A finish and a start

When I last wrote I was waiting for my new serger so I could get my fabric in the washer.

On Thursday I got a back ready for the Spider Web quilt and got it basted and first thing Friday I got it quilted and got the binding sewn on. I finished the hand sewing over the weekend and it is ready to take to the guild meeting next Wednesday.
The package arrived on Saturday morning and I went to work on getting it threaded and running. It is very easy to thread and works like a charm. Here is the pile once I was done!And here is the fabric on Monday after it was all prewashed and pressed.
Yesterday I pulled out the batiks I bought for a quilt I have been commissioned to make. The customer wanted a beach and ocean quilt using strips. I talked her into using curved seams instead of straight and I got the beach and ocean parts done yesterday. Today I went shopping and bought some fabrics for the sky - a sunset. This is what I came up with.
Tomorrow I hope to get it trimmed even and straight and maybe I will go and buy the border/frame and back fabric so this one can be finished soon!

Then it will be on to the next commissioned quilt...

Here comes the sun...

...okay, just sunbreaks but it is a start. I have gotten out in the fresh air a couple times so far but not nearly enough! Still working on apple tree pruning when I should be planting and weeding. I am not going to be doing that for a while though because the ground is just too cold and wet! Here is a picture of some of the daffodils that are blooming profusely right now.


I am finally getting things accomplished in the sewing room though. I got blocks made for 5 people in the round robin I am in. We only have 10 in our group so we decided to make 2 blocks per person so that means I got 10 blocks done this past week and they are in the mail to the next person! I think I have done 7 of the 10 backets (including mine).

Last Saturday my niece, Katie, and I made the trek down to Fabric Depot in Portland OR. We spent about 5 hours in the store filling our cart 4 times! From most of the bolts I only took 1/4 - 1/2 yard but it was still quite the pile! Halfway through we took our load out to the car and ran over to Burgerville for lunch. It is just across the street and not available around here so it is our favorite restaurant on fabric buying trips. I was able to get fabric for two quilts that I have been commissioned to make (and hope to get started on soon) and also fabrics for my neighbor for our quilt exchange. Sally has asked for neutrals for her quilt so I went to the cutting table with a wide range of neutrals. The cutter said "You are making a quilt with just whites?" In reality, none of them were white, more a range of creams to dark tans. Obviously , this woman has never seen some of the stunning quilts made with only neutrals!

So Sunday I started serging the edges of my fabric in preparation for prewashing and my serger just gave up the ghost! I got it third hand probably 20 years ago in a joint purchase with my mother (we each paid $25!) and it has served me well all these years. I went online to see how much new sergers are running these days and was pleasantly surprised to find that the prices are much lower than they were years ago! I checked reviews and decided to purchase the Brother 1034D. It should arrive on Monday. I am planning on taking the old one to my local sewing machine repairman to see if it can be salvaged or maybe just let my husband play with it and see what happens.

So my sewing room is full of piles of fabric waiting to be serged and piles on the floor waiting to be prewashed and I can't get started on those quilts so it forces me to get some other things finished. Yesterday I got the borders on the spider web quilt I am putting together for the quilt guild for a foster child's graduation quilt.


Today I hope to get it basted and quilted so it is finished before Monday when my new serger arrives!!!

Catching up...

...but it isn't too hard! I have had a woefully scantily productive first quarter of 2011 both in blog posts and sewing/crafting!

It has been so busy around here...

Two weeks of the granddaughter visiting,

One week of watching both grandkids at their house,

One quilt show,

One quilt retreat,

One year of appliance repair business records that needed to go into the computer...

and that is just the big stuff!

I did get...

33 pairs of mittens crocheted,

2 owl hats made for the grandkids,

1 binding done on someone else's quilt,

Seasons of Hope Relay for Life quilt finished,

6 quilt kits made up for retreat (finished the tops from 5 of them at retreat),

2 wall quilts/table toppers finished,

2 baby quilts finished,

2 block exchange blocks made and mailed,

2 quilts quilted and bound for other quilters,

20+ stemware coasters made,

120 spiderweb blocks finished and trimmed,

6 tops quilted and bound

...so I guess it wasn't too bad.

I am hoping to do better for the rest of the year but I am sure it will never be as much as I am hoping to do!