OMG Completed!

 

 My Goal for September, 2020 is 

to trim all the rebuilt log cabin blocks

and 

to sew them into a top.

And, yep I succeeded! I shared this photo yesterday.

Here's the whole quilt top pinned to my design wall. It is 69 1/2" x 90". 

Although I am tickled to get this quilt done after working on it on and off for many years, it will be moving into the to-be-quilted closet for a while. I imagine it won't be coming out until next year. 

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilt's One Monthly Goal September Finish Link-Up and Needle and Thread Thursday.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

To Do Tuesday -- Tuesday Night Version

 Another good week for my goals.  Here are last week's results: 

9/22/2020

Sew log cabin blocks together✔️

Work on landscape quilt. Figure out more size appropriate rocks. ✔️but need to change some other things still 

Bind my churn dash quilt. ✔️

Make more Snowball Blocks✔️

Make the red scrap basket✔️See Monday's post about the basket. 

Here are photos of some of my finishes. 

First, check out the Scrappy Rebuilt Log Cabin.  The top is ready for quilting but it won't happen for quite a while. 

I just finished the binding on my Churn Dash this morning. I was really happy about how it turned out.  I sew the binding on the back of my quilts first.  Then I flip it over and machine sew the binding down.  I really like how well this binding looks on both sides. It helps that the binding is the same color as the backing fabric. 

This week I really have a short list.  I've agreed to provide some quilts to kids whose families lost everything due to wild fires. Most of the quilts are ready to go but I have 3 quilts I'm making and one to quilt and bind.  So I'll be busy and highly focused this week. Here's my goal list for this week.

9/29/2020

Quilt one lap quilt

Finish the 3 kid’s quilts 

Keep making Snowball blocks (I use these as leader enders.)  

These are the blocks I've worked on for the last few days. The two piles of charm squares are ready for the two other quilts. 

I was able to finish all the blocks for the first quilt.  I used the Happy Blocks for Charms pattern available at Mary Quilts. Here's all the blocks laid out, ready to be sewn together soon. Hum, I need to separate the turquoise and orange blocks in the top row. 

After this one is done I'm making 2 more that are basically the same with the only difference being colors around the charms.  Hopefully I'll be able to start quilting at least one of these along with the top that just needs the quilting during the week.

I'm linking up to To Do Tuesday and Midweek Makers this week.  Make sure you visit these linky parties to see what people are now working on.  I'll be back to link up with Midweek Makers. 

Virginia allows early in person voting.  Tomorrow is voting day for us.  That and getting our flu shots.  Maybe there will be a take out lunch too.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

Monday Meandering 9 -- 28 -- 2020

Here we are at the end of September. Really? One third of 2020 is past. Last week I decided I really wanted to get my red basket done so I started on it early in the week.  And, YEA ME! I finished it.  Here's the finished basket waiting on the shelf for me to grab some red scraps from it. 

Notice the small strip of red with white speckles?  That's the handle I added. 

As a base idea I used the pattern Catch All Caddy 2 from By Annie. It was featured on the Craftsy class Sew Sturdy Home Organizers by Annie Unrein. I didn't make the basket as shown. I used the measurements and the techniques as described in the video.  I left off pockets, changed the size, added a handle, and changed the way the top was finished.  Most of the changes were on purpose.  A few were "oops!  Here's how I put this together.

You can see the "made" fabric using scraps here. 

First up was quilting all the pieces. I used Pellon Flex Foam between the lining and the made fabric.  I believe mine was fusible on both sides.  I had several left over pieces from various projects so I might have used By Annie's brand as well as the Pellon.  I chose to do a diagonal row of stitching.  This was a relatively small project so I chose to quilt on my domestic machine rather than my long arm. 

Here are all the pieces quilted, trimmed and ready to be put together. Notice the Wonder Clips ready to be used?  It was much easier to clip at various steps than to use pins. 

Remember me writing I made some changes on purpose but not all? My first change was when I cut the side pieces 1/2" smaller than the pattern called for.  Not a big deal really but I did have to trim the bottom piece to fit.  I also wasn't thinking straight when I sewed the pieces right sides together it should have been lining fabrics together.  The cute binding was suppose to be on the outside of the basket. Oops is right.  I could have made this the outside but I wanted all the scrappy fabric to be the outside. 

My plan was to simplify the basket as much as possible. So I decided a circle of fabric sewn than flipped would work just fine for the top.  Here the clips came in handy as I fitted the top. 

One side of the finished basket.  The handle is on the left side/front.  I wish I could say I made a big dent in the red scraps when this was done but, not really. 

Scraps thrown in the basket and ready to put on the shelf.  (Hum, I wonder what that bright blue fabric is?) 

My new red scrap basket has been working out well. I've grabbed it and found some scraps to use on the snowball blocks I've been making.  I've stashed a few odd ball pieces of red fabric in it easily.  

With the experience of this one I'm looking forward to making some more baskets to hold various other colors.  The one issue I have with this basket is the sides (as shown above and in the first picture above) bulge out.  It does it whether it has any thing in it or if it is stuffed full.  I like that the Flex Foam does a good job of maintaining the shape of the basket.  But it is more expensive than, say batting or other stabilizers.  I wonder if I added interfacing to the top finish it might hold it's shape a little better. 

I have a new basket pattern coming so I will try it and see if it might be easier to make.  I'll keep you posted although I don't think I'll even start it for a few more weeks. 

Are you ready to do some blog visiting?  I'm linking up with my regular Monday parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday.  Be sure to visit a few blogs to see what people are working on.  You might just get a new idea for your "I Want to Make" list. 

Happy Quilting! Bonnie 

To Do Tuesday Tuesday Night Version

I suppose I could publish this blog Tuesday morning but I like the extra day for getting things done.  Today we did some shopping and a post office run.  So I only had half a day to stitch.  And I frittered away part of it reading blogs. 

Let's start with last week's goals: 

9/15/2020

Prep pieces for Embroidety Garden Class.✔️

Attend Embroidery Garden Class Thursday. ✔️ see the result here.

Finish quilting customer quilt.✔️ (must ask her if I can share a pic.)

Keep trimming log cabin blocks.✔️ Finished! The trimmings were from 60 blocks.  I made 2 more and trimmed the one I didn't include with the groups of 10. I've got 4 of the 9 rows stitched with one mistake I need to fix. 

Finish binding one of my quilts.✔️ Finished need to take some photos.

Make 1 scrap basket in red Ugh didn’t do much but look at the pattern! 

Not bad really. And here's what I'm working on this week. 

9/22/2020

Finish sewing log cabin blocks together.

Work on city landscape quilt. Figure out more size appropriate rocks for where the water meets the land.  (No, there aren't rocks there now but I may be placing some there.) 

This was from an October 2017 class with Karen Eckmeier.  I need to finish the design, layer tulle over it and then quilt all the little houses, steps, roofs, etc. Currently things are glued on and are starting to fall off. 

Bind my churn dash quilt. 

Make more Snowball Blocks.

Make the red scrap basket. (If I don't get this done this week it comes off the list!) 

That's the plan for this coming week. I really hope I can get the red basket done and make some progress on the landscape quilt.  

I'm linking up with To-Do Tuesday, Mid Week Makers, and Needle and Thread Thursday.  Let's see if I remember to link up with all three! Check them out! 

Happy Quilting! Bonnie 

Monday Meanderings 9 - 21 - 2020

Fun and productive week here!   On Thursday I took an online Embroidery Garden class to make a small Sewing Organizer.  It probably took me longer to pick and cut the fabrics than to make it.  Embroidery Garden is an online source of digital embroidery files.  They are well known for their wonderful In The Hoop designs.  

I spent part of Wednesday and Thursday preparing for the class.  The directions specified having all pieces cut and marked with letters before the beginning of class. So, I got the fabric ironed, cut, and labeled and put them in order of use.  And then turned on the computer and Zoomed into class.  I was doing great until I had a nest from the bobbin at step 7 or so. 

I hadn't been particularly pleased with the bobbin but I thought it was because of the slippery thread I used in it.  But just to make sure I pulled out my machine instruction book:  I was winding the bobbin incorrectly! (I've had the machine for almost 2 years! Who knew?) 

Here's where I stopped. Yes, that is a metallic hoop under the design and stabilizer.  The magnets are super strong and really do a great job of holding the project. To make a long story short, I watched the rest of the class but didn't sew along.  After a dinner break, I came back down and got it done. The finished design has one small area where you hand sew the front section close (or you can use an iron on adhesive piece.) The finished product slides over a horizontal plastic picture frame.  

I'm pretty sure I'll be making some more of these.  I've got this one sitting  next to my piecing sewing machine. (Not to confuse it with the newer machine I mostly use for machine embroidery.)   I was thinking I might be able to change the "to sew."  I'm not sure what else I could put there -- maybe a grandchild's name or ?? 

This design is only available if you take the class at Embroidery Garden. They also have great designs you might like to try on your own. 

That's it for today.  I've had a great week and will be sharing more project statuses either Tuesday or probably, Wednesday.  For now, I'm linking up with my Monday regulars: Oh Scrap, Monday Making and Design Wall Monday.  I hope you take some time to visit these three blogs and then see where they will lead you. 

By the way, whenever I mention a product, it is because I've bought it and used it.  (For instance, the cute Sewing Organizer from EG.) I do not monetize my blog -- it really is just a record of what I've been doing recently and a way to stay motivated to start and finish projects.  

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

To Do Tuesday -- Wednesday Morning Version

You might have noted I now have a floating Goals list -- sometimes I post on Tuesday and sometimes on Wednesday.  Yet, I always use Tuesday at the end of the day as my cut off for getting things done even if the blog post itself doesn't get done until sometime Wednesday.  I'll confess right now I actually got less done this past week than I expected to.  I got immersed in a book and had a fight with Ruthie the long arm.  Sometimes she won, and sometimes I did.  

Here's how I did last week: 

9/8/2020

Trim log cabin blocks ✔️started

Start quilting customer quilt ✔️just 4 more rows out of 14 total

Make 1 scrap basket in red — made fabric but didn’t start sewing the basket yet

Bind one of my quilts — started 

Put borders on baby quilt. ✔️ Isn't this a cute little (40" sq or so) quilt? (I had to hang this on the ironing board because the design wall is full of log cabin blocks!) 

Hum, some of the pinwheel blocks don't look very even.  Oh well, I still like it, especially the little bunnies with hats carrying candy canes.

Here's what is on the list for this week. 

9/15/2020

Finish quilting customer quilt

Prep pieces for Embroidety Garden Class

Attend Embroidery Garden Class Thursday 

Keep trimming log cabin blocks

Finish binding one of my quilts

Make 1 scrap basket in red

I'm really looking forward to the Embroidery Garden class.  It is a Sewing Stand that is made in a hoop then put over a horizontal plastic frame to hold it up. (I pulled the one pictured below off MollyMadeEmb on Etsy as she was selling kits for the class.)  I notice the design is not available on EG's web site as it is only sold through a class.  I've picked my fabrics, I just need to cut and mark them before the class tomorrow afternoon. Click this link to go to Embroidery Garden's web page to see other designs.  If you want to take a class be sure you to join their Facebook page to find out about classes.  There a several classes for some very cute projects and they fill up quickly!

I hope I can get most of these goals done this week.  I was doing pretty well with trimming the blocks until I ran into several blocks that wouldn't trim to 10.5" at all.  Back to the start as I had to retrim to 10.25" instead. Sigh. I will eventually finish trimming all these blocks. 

I'm linking up with To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers and Needle and Thread Thursday.  Take some time and see what folks are working on. 

Just a small note of frustration with Blogger... it seems every time I write a blog something about Blogger has changed.  Today my space bar seemed to put 4 spaces in.  I closed out of Blogger and Safari and did something else for a few minutes before I went back.  Thank goodness that cleared the issue.  I'm not that upset with change but, honestly, to keep making little changes is driving me crazy! 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meanderings and Stash Busting 9 - 14 - 2020

Last month I did a good job of stash busting ... or maybe I did a good job of not buying much fabric! Either way my stash busting statistics look good.  I hope I can keep it up for September.

2020	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
Aug	1.000	54.375	6.500	63.625	9.250

Here are pictures of one of my August finishes.  It is called Diamond Chain by Jenny at Missouri Star in a video showing how to make it. You can read more about it here. I like that it reads as mostly a bright quilt but there are some browns and grays in it. 

Thread is white Omni. 

Design is Ginger Snap

Batting is Pellon 80/20 cotton/poly

And here's one of it hanging in the front hall way.  I swap out quilts every couple of months.  Pretty soon it is time for my autumn leaves quilt. 

So far I haven't finished any quilts for September but I have two ready to bind.  But, sorry to admit, I did buy 4+ yards of a white on white to have on hand.  Let's hope I keep using stash rather than buying stash! 

I'm linking up with my regular parties: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, and Design Wall Monday.  Enjoy checking out the links on these blogs. I forgot to come back yesterday to link up to Design Wall Monday.  But I did get several more rows of my customer's quilt done so I wasn't paying much attention to computer things!  Go visit Design Wall Monday -- she's making a neat table cloth from a hunk of fabric found in her stash.  

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie 

To Do Tuesday (Oops, Wednesday edition!)

Here's last week's to do list.  

9/2/2020

Quilt one of my quilts✔️ ready for binding

Begin customer’s quilt nope, nothing done except think about it! 

Finish baby quilt top✔️ at least the center is done, still needs borders 

Finish wonky Family Portrait✔️ basically done although I may add some more quilting. 

Pick a new UFO and start working on it ✔️ Yep, check here to see the next UFO I'm hoping to finish.

It was a fairly successful week. I also spent some time baking and reading.   

And, here's what I've got planned for this week. (I'm late getting this posted so we are already a day into this week! Eek!) 

9/8/2020

Trim log cabin blocks.  

Load and start quilting customer quilt

Make 1 scrap basket in red 

Bind one of my quilts

Put borders on baby quilt. 

I've already started trimming the log cabin blocks but it'll take a long time to trim 60+ blocks.  I probably need to make one or two more to have the correct amount. 

The red scrap basket is in progress.  I watched a Craftsy class called Home Organizers by Annie Unrein.  She had an interesting project called a Catch-All-Caddy. I like the size but I don't need a bunch of pouches and pockets.  So I'm planning to strip it down to the bare bones and see if I want one for every color of scraps I keep.  I'm making slab block type fabric to make the sides of basket.  I'm pretty sure I'll line it with yardage and then use a contrasting strip as the binding. Here's one of the slab fabrics -- just needs a few more inches on the sides.

Hopefully, I can make some good progress on all of this week's goals. 

I'm linking up with To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, and Needle and Thread Thursday.  I hope you enjoy checking out the blogs posted on these linky parties. 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie 

  

Monday Meandering and OMG for Sept.

At least, I hope I'm not too late for OMG for September.  I haven't participated in OMG since last year, probably July.  I'm ready to make the plunge.  And, boy howdy, do I have a big project to get working on again. 

 My Goal for September, 2020 is 

to trim all the rebuilt log cabin blocks

and 

to sew them into a top.

This is 35 blocks. I have at least 25 more blocks finished and a couple that need a few rounds. This is going to be a twin size quilt that will be used in my "quilt" bedroom. It used to be used as a bedroom yearly when my quilting buddies would come for the in-house retreat.  But now I'm piling up finished quilts in it! 

Hum, I noticed I do not have all the blocks going the correct way above.  Below are about 25 more blocks. I am hoping to get to 63 blocks in a 7 x 9 setting. I hope I don't have to make any more blocks!  This quilt has been in the works for YEARS!  I can't even tell you how long I've been making these blocks. (Although I will admit it's probably been a year or two since I last work on it.) I can say most of the blocks I've made have been "rebuilt" but they all need to be trimmed up.  There's the two parts of my September one monthly goal. *Yikes, it's already a week into this month! 

Are you impressed, the front cutting table is still pretty well cleared off?  I am! (I'll have to see what is to the right of the yellow mug, which by the way, I've had since HIGH SCHOOL.) 

If you like the idea of this block I got my directions from Elaine Adair Pieces. Click on the Tutorial - Scrappy Rebuilt Log Cabin link under her heading. She gives good directions on the size of strips to use and how to rebuild the resulting log cabin blocks.  

My big news over the past week was getting a new computer to run Ruthie's robotics.  I've used it once with a fairly small quilt and was very happy with it.  I loaded a bigger one on today and will get most of it quilting on it tomorrow.  

Take some time to check out these linky parties.  I'm linking up with my normal ones: Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday and Elm Street Quilts September OMG Goal.  I'm looking forward to seeing what's going on in studios across the Internet. 

Happy Quilting All, Bonnie 

To Do Tuesday (evening edition!)

I've liked moving my To Do List (or goals as I call it...) to Tuesday evening.  It feels like I have a couple of extra days to get things done.  For some reason it didn't help me all that much this week.  Sigh. Here's last week's list and my successes (and failures just-didn't-finishes.) 

8/25/2020

Quilt another one of my quilts and bind it -- didn’t happen

Bind last week’s quilt✔️

Finish all Migrating Geese blocks, start sewing blocks together✔️ the 5 columns are sewn together. Unfortunately I need to buy some fabric to go with them before I can continue.

Start a new baby quilt✔️ Here are the fabrics I pulled. I finished cutting out the center of parts.

It's hard to see but at the very top are two different fabrics I'm considering for the thin border between the blocks and the main border that will be the bunny fabric. The bunnies are a browned grey -- hard to find that exact color in the stash. I'll keep you posted. 

Finish Wonky Family quilt Progress made but not done yet. See below for a peak at the almost finished quilt. 

And here's what I'll be working on this week.

9/2/2020

Quilt one of my quilts

Begin customer’s quilt

Finish baby quilt top

Quilt Wonky Family quilt

Pick a new UFO and start working on it 

They seem doable to me.  I finally have purchased a new tablet for Ruthie, the long arm.  I have had some annoying problems with her although the issues had work arounds and I put up with them for quite a while before I found out what might really be causing them. The computer was 6 years old and had 2 MB Ram.  Not really enough for the upgrade from several years ago.  Hopefully my tech guru will be able to set up the new tablet and get all the programs and data moved and I will be good to go.  I want to try it on one of my quilts first, rather than a customer quilt. I may be singing and dancing by next week if this works. 

I thought I'd share a tip I read in a Facebook group.  It makes so much sense to me. Someone recommended putting a weight on your ruler when cutting. Oh yea! That really helped me. So I now keep this 5 lb weight on my cutting table and plop it on a ruler when I start cutting. Hey, and I get a little weight lifting done too. 

And, now an amazing accomplishment this week that was on my To Do list for months and months though never done.  First, here's the before picture, circa April, 2020 in the midst of sewing face masks. 

My cutting table is big enough to have 2 cutting areas.  See the purple mat behind the front section?  I almost always have that cleared off so I have someplace to cut. But the front section often becomes the repository of stuff - especially scraps, things I didn't want to deal with right away and junk.  Fast forward several more months and the stack of blocks (shark block on top) had been put away, or did they get put into a top? The ties for the masks had been used or put away.  New things had been piled up.  I decided it really was time to clear off the mess! 

Ahhh. It is usable again. I actually put things away (or threw away) and dusted all the threads and dust bunnies off. That's the top of the Wonky Family quilt.  Hopefully it won't take long to finish it. 

Not a bad week at all. I'm pleased I got several projects moved forward.  I finished a couple of books. (I was tickled to listen to Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen that came out last week.  Lucky me! I was the first one to reserve it and the library got it right after I put my reserve in.) 

Here are the linky parties I have (or will be) linking to: To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, and Needle and Thread Thursday. Take a look at what's going on in Blog land. (So, posting Tuesday night works for me but I won't be able to link to the other blogs until Wed and Thursday.) 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie