Don't try this at home.....................

That Lexi - she is sure persistent - when she wants to blog - she gets right in there.  I see no other choice, but to make her OWN blog!!!!   So that should happen soon I hope.  I have so much sitting in draft mode to blog about for myself that we don't have room to share!!!!   What a silly girl!!!!

So what have I been working on?  The lady who sits on things all year long - I believe they call that procrastination.  By the way - I heard the best quote the other day regarding procrastination.  It went something like this "If I did everything when I was supposed to, I would have nothing to do tomorrow."   OK - so that wouldn't be the case at my house, but I like it!!!

Yes - it's Christmas season and as usual - I am quilting stuff for customers, making quilts and generally being an idiot for leaving things so late.   However  - the good news is that I finished the last customer quilt yesterday (of those I commited to getting done before Chrismtas).  There are still a few left and at the rate I've been going - those should be done by the end of the year?  Maybe not quite as I have two of my own that I would like to quilt. And let's not forget the ones that I still have to make or finish! (YES - before Christmas).  Don't go there.

Customer quilt - DONE

I finished another one the other day, but the picture hasn't been edited yet - you'll have to wait for that.


So to be realistic - of the FIVE that I am supposed to be making for Christmas, probably three will actually get completed - no wait - make that four!!!  Not bad considering a couple are not started yet.  I did buy fabric yesterday!!!

Here's how to make a T-shirt quilt  - don't try this at home (leaving things to the last minute) until you are absolutely certain you know what you are doing.

Speaking of which - the T-shirt quilt was supposed to be on the long-arm this morning - nope it is not.  What happened???   Well I made a bad decision yesterday and against my better judgement and well - let's just chalk it up to thinking I'm better than I really am.

When I went to quilt that customer quilt yesterday, I decided to use a different thread than I normally do. Now I know that I can get a perfect tention every time using my regular thread.  NO - I wanted to try a different color that wasn't my usual brand.   And guess what????  Yep - I had to do some ripping.  I just couldn't get the tension right.  Too tight - too loose.   Let's just say that I was a tad miffed.  That set me back about 5 hours.  I know - who makes a stupid decision like that when there is a time crunch.

Suffice it to say - the quilt is trimmed and ready for pick-up today - perfect tension with the regular thread.   I did get some work done on the T-shirt quilt and give me about two hours - maybe three and that quilt should be on the long arm, ready to quilt.

Let's have a look at what the situation looked like a couple of days ago.  Last Monday at Monday Mania - I took  my scissors to the T-shirts and hacked them up to get all the useable stuff off of them.

Here's the ball of T-shirt stuff.

T-shirts - let's lay them out to see what we have

Lots of bright colors - nice selection

 Hmmmm - the owner of the T-shirts had started to do some prepping herself and a number of the T-shirts came with a big black line around some of the images.   ACK - well - I don't like to put sashing on my t-shirt quilts so some of those black lines will have to stay as a part of the quilt.  No choice - there are not a lot of logos and I have to use what I have.

Some T-shirts came "pre-marked"

 Next up was to put fusible interfacing on the reverse of the T-shirts to stabilize them.  About half of them were done a couple of days ago.

Final layout - stabilizer added to about half

Row Two is on the wall

Rows one, three, four and five are laid out -

Row One is ready to sew together the moment I hit PUBLISH on this blog post.  The other rows need to be trimmed and then sewn together.  No sashing keeps it simple.  I did have to add a couple of spacers in this quilt but I just used "empty" T-shirt material in the color that I needed.  

The flannel backing is washed and ready to go.  Notice what I chose?????   One of Northcott's NEW Stonehenge Gradations in flannel.  These flannels are to die for.   And just in case you are wondering - NO - I did not get this flannel from work.  I paid for it at Ruti's just like you would.  It would be a tad unethical to get something get something from work for free and resell it to a customer.  Plus I still need to support my local quilt stores or I won't have a job!!!

Northcott - Stonehenge Flannel Gradations

So - it's time to go to work!!!   Oh my god - the more quilts that I get quilted (and the fact that not much is coming back in right now - don't worry - there is still tons to be done) - the light is fast getting bigger at the end of the tunnel.  I have a feeling that when I finish with this tunnel that I'm going to turn a corner and be right back at square one, but with a different category!!!!!   Never mind - as I work my way out of the maze that is called my studio - I'm a happy camper.  

And I'm going to take at least ONE day between Christmas and New Years to just have fun and sew on something that doesn't have a deadline - right Ronda???

Let's see - I watched a movie last night - Trainwreck - pretty funny, but I was madly sewing binding on one of the quilts that is due for Christmas.  Got about 1/4 done in 2 hours while watching a movie - that is good for me. Don't worry - I didn't sacrifice quality.  And I finished ANOTHER damn book.  Oh yes - don't feel sorry for me and my nightmare schedule - I'm getting PLENTY of ME time in there. Plus I technically only have to go to work on Monday so I could potentially have THREE whole days before Christmas to work on stuff.  Plus today - loads of time!!!!!

I must tell you about the book I finished.  I wasn't going to, but it was due back at the library.   Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg - The Scam.   I do NOT know why I continue to read that series - it is just way too far out there.  I don't even enjoy them - I do enjoy the Stephanie Plum series, but this one - well it is just too much for me.  Thank god I did NOT buy the book but got it from the library instead.

On that note - it's time for me to hit PUBLISH and get to the sewing machine and then the long arm.


Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!