Quilting Update

I've been quilting away on my sister's quilt and it's going pretty well. The quilt is heavy so sometimes difficult to get under the needle of my small domestic machine - I'm managing and taking frequent breaks.

The quilt top seems really "loose" on the quilt and I think that's because I used safety pins to baste rather than spray and the quilt has been handled a lot to manage the sheer size and weight. It's also stitched in the ditch which I think is making it look a little wrinkly. When I'm finished quilting I'll give it a good starch and press and hope for the best.

My machine is starting to act up so I'm really hoping it will hold out until I'm finished - then it will need a good service.

The front and back to date:

and I think I figured out my border problem - when I remeasured today I was smaller than when I originally measured.

The Problem With Borders

On my last post I showed you the progress on my Metro Rings quilt. Everything went great until I put on the borders - it was great then too, until I tried to baste it for quilting.

See those ripples in the border - not good! Not supposed to be there! I don't know what happened - I measured the quilt and the borders and sewed them on - everything I was supposed to do to get flat borders. (And if you think you know what the problem might be, please let me know. I sewed the borders on with a 1/4 foot instead of a walking foot - but that shouldn't have made it this bad. I'm wondering if I measured incorrectly somewhere.)

I was not happy. And I was pin basting it in a church, when the senior group was meeting, so no foul language allowed. I texted my quilty friends right away - they were consoling, offered some suggestions, and wished me luck. I googled to see what others suggested - to no great help though.

I emailed the quilting guru who thinks it's weird and I asked another expert. The consensus is to remove the borders, quilt the middle part, then put the borders back on. So, that's what I'm doing. And hoping for the best.

I only removed 3 borders for now. I pin basted the quilt - a first for me (and it went pretty well) and I sprayed one border to see if I could coax it to lay flat. No such luck. So I left the sprayed border on to avoid dealing with the stickiness of the spray. I'll take it off later.

I started quilting tonight. This quilt is a beast. The finished size will be 86" x 86" and right now it's about 96" x 96". My sewing machine isn't that big. It's a bit of a struggle to maneuver this thing under my needle - and I started in the middle to keep the wrinkles to a minimum.

At least my cat hasn't tried to jump onto the sewing table yet.

A Rest, A Change, And Back At It

I just checked my last post date - it's been awhile. In that time I've been busily sewing hostess gifts for a big trip I took and I've been working on my sister's wedding quilt. She gets married June 5th and as of right now, I'm on track to be finished.

First up are the hostess gifts. For my cousin - 8 cushion covers. These are screen captures from my Instagram - I think the original photos got "lost" when I switched phones. My cousin loved the cushion covers. They are zipper closed on the back and each has a small design on the back that echoes what is on the front.

Then I sewed a whole cloth wall hanging for my Dad's cousin. I copied the Welsh style quilts. I'm really happy with how this turned out. It's my first whole cloth quilt and I learned a few things.

Next I started my sister's quilt. She wants it to be turned into a duvet cover, so it had to be an exact size - not one of my strong points. It's the "Metro Hoops" quilt from Sew Kind of Wonderful - a great pattern to use. It went together pretty quickly - some process shots:

First layout with a few blocks finished

More blocks finished

All the rings cut

adding the grey squares

All the blocks finished and trimmed - all 68 of them

Then I put the top together - minus borders

I'm really happy with how it turned out. The borders have created a problem - that's a post for another day.

I won, I won

I won the "curate your own kona bundle" hosted by A Quarter Inch From the Edge and Buttons Quilts.  I'm so excited. I love "Mr Random Number Generator".

Here's a link to my post. Yay sunflowers and better weather.

Curate My Own Kona Bundle

The talented ladies at A Quarter Inch From the Edge and Buttons Quilts issued a challenge to curate your own Kona bundle.

It's been so freaking cold here that I've been thinking of what I'd like to enter. I thought about a cozy pic with me and my cat and the fire:

But the colours the palette builder picked out were pretty blah.

So I looked through some garden pictures and found this one from two summers ago. I have a great south facing wall and I'm in love with growing giant sunflowers - the bigger the better.

I love these pinky/red colours.

I'm linking up to the contest - pop over to see what other people have curated. Good luck!

Where did the last 10 days go?

It is freaking cold here in my part of the world. I only went outside today to get the paper and didn't have to go far for that. I'm going out tomorrow but it will be warmer then.

I've been a busy little bee.

I finished off these French Press Slippers. They are felted wool and are toasty warm.

Sewing hexies on a cushion cover

One cushion cover of hexies. This is going to my cousin.

 My sister ordered a rush order of crib shoes for someone she works with:

That's about it for now.

I'm working on the Kona Bundle Challenge hosted by A Quarter Inch From the Edge and  Buttons Quilts.

Getting Organized

I am not the most organized person in the world. Other people think I am, but I don't really think so. I have a lot of clutter around me all the time and that makes me feel disorganized.

One of the things I want to do while on sabbatical is finish up some WIPs and organize my house/life.

So, this week, my first week off, I made a list of the things I wanted to do when I'm off

This list has sewing/quilting WIPs, knitting WIPs, and house WIPs. The sewing/quilting list is the longest by far. (And I thought of some more once I finished this list).

Then I organized the list into a spreadsheet so that I could break the tasks into smaller bits and schedule them into months/times according to priority. Here's what I came up with

The blog is flipping this image for some reason so you'll have to flip your head

This list is still pretty daunting, so I folded it to post so it feels more manageable and I'm more likely to get some things on it accomplished

This one is flipping too - anyone know why?

Next week, I'll start working on the projects in more depth.

The end of last week I finished a little knitting project. It's a drop stitch cowl that I picked up at Main Street Yarns. My lighting isn't great in these picts so bare with me

I'm pleased with it, and have only caught it in my coat zipper once.

As for sewing this week, I've cut out a couple of bras and need to get them sewn. I was on the hunt for a wooden ball to press curved pieces and I found one on Tues, so now I can get sewing.

I finished knitting my french press slippers. They don't look like much now, but they'll look great once they are finished. I need to sew them together then felt them in the washing machine (which I'll do at the house of a male friend who makes nothing - should be interesting). These slippers are meant to be my "take alongs" to wear when I'm away from home. I'll let you know how they turn out.