Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Revealing Evening

We had so much fun last evening at Craft Night. We were all so excited to see all six of the quilts we had made this past year for our friends. There were 6 black garbage bags sitting on the table and we could hardly wait! We drew numbers for our spots in line.

First came Mary. She was ushered out of the room while her quilt was hung on the design wall. Her quilt was made by Linnea who is her sister-in-law. Linnea chose an ambitious project with machine piecing, hand applique and buttons. She finished putting the label on this quilt yesterday afternoon at work. It turned out beautifully. (In each picture the recipient is on the left and the creator is on the right.)
Next up was Sally whose quilt was made by her best friend, Nadine. Nadine had this quilt done before May because she knew that the rest of the year would be busy with helping her daughter with her twins (born in June, 8 weeks early) and 2 year old. After the quilt was finished, Sally commented that she really didn't like orange or green very well when we were discussing the quilts and from then on we teased her about her orange and green quilt. She was so relieved when she saw the blue and white.
I drew number 3 so I headed out of the room for a long wait. Okay, it was only a few minutes but it was so hard to wait. Cindy made my quilt and it is amazing! It was also an ambitious project as it is reversible! Cindy said "Never again!" Mine was the smallest quilt but it is technically two quilts so no complaints from me!We took my quilt off the wall and put up the quilt I made for Linnea. A year ago, when we started this project, Linnea's request was something scrappy. I finished one scrappy quilt not too long after that and when I shared it at craft night she said she would take that one so all year we joked that I was finished with her quilt. In reality, I wasn't sure what I was doing for her quilt! It wasn't until I brought The Wedding Quilt over for show and tell one evening that I knew what to do. As we worked on the wedding quilt we talked about other color combinations we thought would work well for the Monet's Wedding Ring pattern and I was thinking blue with neutral rings so here it is. I got started on it at the quilt retreat in October until I discovered that I had cut one set of pieces too big and had to rip. I got back at it in November once I got the ripping done. I got it quilted and bound earlier this month and then when I was adding the label and trimming threads I discovered that the tension was funky on a few sections of the quilting so I had to rip and redo on Monday! In the end it turned out great in spite of the frustrations.This quilt came down and up went Nadine's which was made by Mary. Evidently Mary never makes a small quilt and this was no exception. It was almost too big for the design wall! She calls this a queen size but we all agreed it is much more like a king! As you can see from the picture we were having a great time!Last, but not least by any means, Cindy's quilt went up on the wall. She was so happy. She wanted a quilt in Disney princess colors. These are not colors Sally would normally use so it was a struggle but it turned out wonderfully!As we cuddled with our quilts around the tables after all were revealed we drew names for this next year's projects. We set a deadline for November 1 this year and I drew Sally's name so I need to start thinking about a pattern and colors.

But first, I need to get the business books into the computer for the tax man...

Saturday, January 22, 2011

I'm not slacking

I have been working on various projects but nothing too exciting to photograph.

So far this month I have finished 14 pairs of mittens and have another pair almost done (I just need to weave in some loose ends of yarn). I am enjoying making these as they just turn out so cute!

I got Linnea's quilt basted, quilted and bound and I have the label ready to embroider and attach. I will have that finished by Tuesday when we have our big reveal! We are all getting pretty excited about that!

I also put a binding on a quilt that someone else made. She just wasn't sure how to finish the quilt off and asked me to do it. I used the extra backing fabric I trimmed off for the binding strips so all I put into it was a little thread and 3 hours of time.

I got an email notice from an online fabric store about a sale and ended up buying about 65 different 1/2 yard cuts of fabrics that read as solids in various colors. Last week my daughter went to her local quilt shop and bought me another 45 different fat quarters of the same sort of fabrics since they were having their annual fat quarter sale. All of those pieces should definitely fill out my stash some. It was really lacking in some colors after recent projects. I also got a couple of new quilt patterns online so I am excited about getting started on those.

But first, I have to get all of our business' invoices, deposits, checks and parts orders into the computer (I just finished the February stuff this evening) so our tax return can get filled out so there won't be too much sewing happening yet this month. My only sewing deadlines for this month (once Linnea's quilt is done) are two blocks for the Flickr QBE and quilting a baby quilt for my daughter.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

2010 Wrap-Up

December Tally

Robot Quilt
'Guy' Quilt
Deer Quilt
Owl Quiltlet
Odyssea Triangle Maze Quilt
Ornament Quiltlet
Strawberry Quiltlet
16 Stemware Coasters
21 Novelty Pillowcases
Quilted 2 Customer Quilts
3 Pairs Mittens

2010 Totals

If I counted correctly (and I doubt I did) this year I accomplished the following:

9 Professional Totes
29 Quilts
2 Additional Top
53 Blocks for Exchanges/Round Robins
5 LWR Quilt Backs and 9 Tops
2 Cushions and 6 Pillows
1 Baby Quilt Repair
18 Doll/Wall Quilts
2 Quilted for Customer
3 Pairs of Mittens

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Some Pictures

First we have the layer cake I purchased to use for a round robin. This one is Moda's Harvest Saltbox. I am thinking I might use my blocks to make a tablecloth for my dining room table for the fall (or anytime since I have fall colors in my great room all the time).

Next we have a couple of pictures of the mittens I have been working on. Four pairs went to my grandkids already. These four are finished and ready for sale/gifting.


These next four are waiting to have the seams stitched up. I am working on another pair and then I will probably stitch up all the seams to get them out of the basket!


And, last, but not least, this was my birthday present from my daughter. 25 rainbow fat quarters and some blue yardage. I am mulling over what pattern to use those fat quarters for. I have a couple in mind.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Switched to mittens

My sewing room has been out of commission for about three weeks and once those quilt labels were on I had to find some hand work to do. While at our oldest daughter's celebrating Christmas she gave me some yarn and a crochet hook saying her kids needed some mittens.

When my kids were little I made many pairs of mittens for them using a simple crocheted mitten pattern that easily adapted to any size. I didn't have it with me but she found a similar pattern online
here so I got started. I finished a pair for each of the grandkids before I left her house and got another pair made on the drive home. Since we had our little princess with us last week at our house I wasn't going to get started on anything else so I continued working on mittens and got several more pairs made. My plan is to use up all my yarn and some from my daughter making various sizes of mittens to be given to charities next winter (unless I get enough done this winter). I will post pictures of some of the mittens in the next few days but I will leave you with a picture of The Princess in her dancing clothes!

On Wednesday my son and I headed to the east side of the state to get him moved into his new apartment at college and to return The Princess to the bosom of her family. Got him moved in yesterday and then today. a couple of hours into my drive west the car died. I got it towed to an auto repair shop and found out it needs a fuel pump. Since we have two tanks and two pumps and the shop wouldn't be able to get a pump until next week my husband is heading over her this evening and we will try to make it home tomorrow by keeping the tank between 3/4s and full. On our side of the state the fuel pumps are readily available and my husband gets to fix his car on his own.

This next week I need to get the quilt basted, quilted and bound for my friend and get my house cleaned for the arrival of our new couch on Tuesday.