To Do Tuesday

Did you notice I skipped Monday this week?  I had some plans to do a short Happy 4th blog, even picked out the artwork.  But, nope, didn't happen.  So it's To Do Tuesday instead.  

So let's start with last week's goals list.  It was a great week actually. 

6/27/2022

✅Make backing for Cheese and Crackers quilt -- Check below to see the yellow backing at the top of the photo. 

✅Quilt and bind Cheese and Crackers -- Here's a peek at the quilting.

✅Finish making the dog toys -- Something like 28 toys are done.

✅Make 3 more blocks for Irma -- Ready to put in the mail.

✅Sew cupcakes block together -- Done, and it doesn't look much differently from last week's picture. 

Here's what I'm working on this week.

7/4/22

Work on July’s UFO challenge Migrating Geese

Start on Picnic Time small wall hanging 

Make blocks for FCQ Officers, more red Spider Webs 

Quilt something… decision to be made during the week

Here's the new challenge piece.  Several years ago I purchased a Technique Sheet (TS) from Studio 180. The sheets are printed in color and then laminated. The TS  shows how to make the geese and gives sizes for various widths of the strips. I made 5 long strips 9.5" wide. All the geese strips are completed.  I bought a wide back from Connecting Threads to use as the sashing, borders and backing.  After hours of making sure I would have enough fabric for the backing if I cut a hunk off for the sashing and borders, I started cutting.  

As you can tell I used some of my homespuns.  All the plaids I used made a dent but unfortunately I still have some left. Sigh.  I might need another project of homespuns one of these days. (Cheese and Crackers made a dent in my 30's and fabrics but another project or two also will be needed to use them up.) 

I admit there was shopping going on the last week of June.  I was hoping both packages would come in after July so I wouldn't have to count them in during June.  One is being counted on my June stash busting numbers and one will be in the July numbers.  But here's what I got.  First the June add ins.  

I've been getting emails from Craft Town fabrics for years.  In fact I've bought from them before but not for several years.  When they offered a great price on a rainbow box of Mettler Silk Finish threads I was totally hooked.  See the box below.  Don't they make you want to sew something in a beautiful bright color?  

I figured I could add some fabric for the same shipping charge, so I did. Plus they often have All or Nothing fabric or fabric at lower costs starting at $3.99.  These are older fabrics but definitely quilt store quality.  I decided to check the All or Nothing selection. Hum, there were several that appealed to me.  I ended up with 2 prints and 3 neutrals. Here's my haul. 

I hadn't bought novelty fabric for a while so I decided to get the popsicles and sheep just for something new.  Actually the popsicles is a full yard and will be used for the basis of a new quilt -- possibly a 3 yard quilt.  The sheep will probably be the centers a child quilt but not sure what as it is only 3/8th of a yard.  The other 3 neutrals will work well as background fabrics when I use a variety of backgrounds. (note -- Craft Town has $5.00 shipping up to $49.99 in July. And, no I don't get compensated for sharing this, just call me The Enabler!) So I thought I was set for awhile. 

Except, Connecting Threads was having a 20% off sale and I fell for a fat quarter bundle of red fabrics.  So, again, I checked shipping and decided to add a one yard piece of wide backing.  I have had great luck using wide backing for piecing.  I was "planning" on getting some white I had purchased before.  It was a little surprise when I got the package. That lovely grey fabric was what was suppose to be white. Note to self: double check your order before submitting it! Sigh. I haven't decided how I plan on using it.  I will check my tops and see if there is any that would fit on it. Or it might become a background fabric for some project.  Lots of possibilities. 

The reds are going to be used on more spider web blocks.  The reds in my stash don't seem right to me so this influx of reds will be put to work soon. 

It seems like I had a whole lot to let everyone know about today.  But, I'm done now.  Well, except the plug for the Linky parties.  Here are links to the parties I'm participating in today. Please use these as launching pads to visit quilters on the Internet. 

Monday Making

Design Wall Monday 

To Do Tuesday

Midweek Makers 

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