Another great day at Motivational Monday. It's amazing how much one can get done when everything is prepped or you have the tools to do the prep at the sewing day. And with great conversations and lots of laughs - well it's a great day!
It's my favorite day of the week and I'm getting much better at prepping when I get home so that everything is ready to go for the following week. No rushing around on Sunday evening or even Monday morning. It makes a huge difference. I'm finally learning to be super productive.
Going for my bloodwork this morning so I haven't had breakfast. GRRR! But I've done my online check-in and I have a 66-minute wait. At least I can do the waiting at home instead of there. I think they send you a text when it's close to your time. Not as convenient as making an appointment, but still, better than endless waiting.
And that gives me a chance to get the blog out of the way!
What got accomplished yesterday? More of the Farmer's Wife blocks. This time I got NINE blocks completed.
 |
| The Farmer's Wife book |
 |
| 9 Farmer's Wife blocks DONE!!! |
Some of these were very fussy to do. The one in the top left - easy. The next one was fiddly as there were two inset seams. The next one - easy. The ones on the next row were not bad - some just had a lot of pieces so that took time. The one on the bottom row left was almost done from a previous sewing day so that was super easy to finish. The next two were paper pieced. I had so much trouble with the middle one on the bottom row. It was a pain to get all the fabrics in the correct position. GRRR! - but it's done! The last one was a remake of the one I goofed on last week. I decided to remake it. It was also paper pieced. But nine more complete!!!! I'm not sure how many are left, but I think I'm down to less than 40????
I have one pattern to draw out in EQ8 for next week, but otherwise, everything is ready to go. Now I know you're asking why I have to draw it in EQ8? There is a CD with all the templates for the weird blocks. However, I no longer have a computer with a CD so that won't help me at all. I'll just redraw it and use the EQ8 templates to cut the block. There are 11 blocks in total that are weird to put together. I believe I have three of the 11 done or am working on the third one. They will be ugly to do!!
As my ender and leader project, I brought the missing double wedding ring arcs and I got 5 (of 20) sewn. That was awesome. Once the arcs are together, I'll do the insert for the center part and then they'll be ready to put into the quilt. There's definitely a light at the end of this tunnel and in anticipation of quilting these quilts, I have purchased a digitized quilting pattern for the blocks. I actually bought two patterns as I like them both. But I'll choose only one for both quilts. The other pattern can be used on the small project.
 |
| Arcs for the double wedding ring |
It took quite a while to get those nine blocks completed for the Farmer's Wife, but I still had a bit of time so I cut up some bias strips to make the stems for my maple leaf blocks. I got all the bias stems made (with fusible on the back) and pressed them to the blocks. I even managed to get all the stitching done (thanks to Diane for loaning me her applique foot). You try to be super organized and I could NOT find that darn foot last week when I was prepping, but when I needed it last night, there it was in the presser foot box!!!
 |
| Stems are fused and sewn |
 |
| Now they are trimmed and ready to sew in next week |
Someone gave me this fabric yesterday. Orange and Halloween - perfect!!!! Thanks!!!
 |
| Orange Halloween fabric - I'm sure I can find a use for that |
While it doesn't look like I got a lot accomplished yesterday I still came home feeling very accomplished. Those are fiddly things that got done and now this coming week should be much easier. I still have one or two fiddly blocks that I keep bypassing but I think I am now completely prepped to get them done this coming week. Think basket block!
I've mentioned that we don't turn on our AC. It's on at the church that we sew at and I normally take a sweater because I hate AC and find it too cold for my liking. A couple of ladies brings fans on top of that and I was desperate yesterday as I had forgotten to bring a sweater. I did something that I never do, but as mentioned - it was that or go home. I found a sweater in the closet - no idea who it belonged to, but I wore that sweater all day and I was just comfortable. Yikes - I must have something wrong with my temperature control.
Do you join pieces of batting? Whenever I make quilts for myself, I search through my batting leftovers to see if I can find pieces that would work once they are joined. What's the easiest way to join? You can stitch them together on the sewing machine, but I like to use the fusible tape.
When I grabbed my bag of fusible tape, I found a couple of rolls that I had picked up over the last couple of years. No, they hadn't even been opened. I didn't have anything else to use in the bag, so I opened up one of the packages. I must say that it was fast and convenient to use the roll.
 |
| Using a roll of batting seam tape to join two pieces of batting |
 |
| Batting Seam Tape |
However, the pioneer in me says it's way more economical if you cut your own strips. The strips are made from fusible interfacing. Fusible tricot which is stretchy, but I don't think stretchy is all that important. Once the quilt is in your quilt, you don't need stretchy. I often use this kind of interfacing shown below. While the price says $33.98 on that package, I paid $7. Each of those rolls is 1 ½" by 10 yards. Buying by the yard you get 20" by 20 yards. You can see that buying the interfacing by the meter and making your own tape is way cheaper. Not as convenient, but way cheaper.
 |
| Package of fusible interfacing to make batting seam tape |
The same reason that I would make my own batting strips for the jelly roll rug rather than purchase the package. I just realized that you need TWO packages to make one rug. That's over $30. I use my scraps from quilting and cut that into 2 ½" strips. I'm just way cheap!!!
On that note, I'd better get this finished off before I get a message to get my butt in gear to get to the lab.
And if you want to see what happened to Murphy, you'd better check out Lexi's blog this morning. You are NOT allowed to laugh at me. This dog is trouble! Thank god she's cute.
Don't forget to check out the QUILTsocial blog this morning as well. Lots of tips if you're going to do fusible applique.
Have a super day!!!
Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment