A progress report

I have a LOT of topics for upcoming blog posts so stay tuned in case you're waiting for some show and tells and the book post. Also if you're waiting for a homework assignment from me - I'm having to recreate all my distribution lists. Not a fun task, but then I thought of an easy way. Now I'm browsing through my sorted inbox and creating a "contact" for everyone who has sent me an e-mail. Then it becomes a simple matter of recreating those distribution lists. Just takes a wee bit of time to create those contacts.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about - well you can just ignore that. The trick is to save that file (from Outlook with all the contact information) on the external hard disk so I don't have to do this again. So - if I owe you a note, be patient a couple more days. I'm trying to do one distribution list a day. I started yesterday and the first note went out. There are two more urgent ones to send. One today and one tomorrow. Then three more lists to recreate. I should also print a copy of them out (did that with two of them), but then I have a backup copy on paper.

Yesterday was Monday sewing and it was nice to get back. I hadn't been for a couple of weeks and well, I wasn't even sure what was in my bag to work on. Oh yes - those blocks that I'm hand embroidering from the Gingerbread quilt. I was going to prep the last block, but it was going to be way easier to trace with a light table than without. I'll take the light table next week.

That meant I was stuck stitching all day. UGG!! But it has to be done, so might as well suck it up and stitch away. There's excellent lighting in the room so it was the perfect place for that.

This is the third last block to stitch. The second last block is prepped and ready to stitch, the last one hasn't been started yet. And I think there are two more blocks to piece - a large one and a small one. That means the end is near!!!!

The block I worked on yesterday

Hmm - you can't tell what is stitched and what is not. But in this next picture, you can see a wee bit better.

Three of the green stems were already stitched in place and I managed to get 33 of 44 circles stitched down. That's a LOT of circles!!  I was a wee bit glad when the end of the day came. But I'm super excited at the progress. This is one of my UFOs and it's a biggy with all that hand applique. It will be done this year and I can't wait to cross this one off the list.

33 of 44 circles are now stitched in place

I might even start to sew it together?  Come on - I have lots of stuff to do before I start doing that!!!

I got another pair of the scrap blocks sewn together. I did a rough count - oh yes - there are close to 30 more sets sitting there waiting to be sewn. What the heck was I thinking when I cut these blocks? Make a king size quilt? I think NOT!!!  One day I plan to find the instructions or I'm just going to wing it and make two smaller quilts from the blocks.

Another pair of scrappy blocks

It's amazing what I can accomplish when I put my mind to it. On Sunday when I came home from teaching the last class, there was still a lot of sewing time left. I popped in my earbuds and turned on the audiobook. Oh boy - between Sunday and Monday afternoons, this is what happened.

The mystery quilt (made larger by one row and one column) is done. The mystery was done with three fabrics. I added a fourth for the inner border and binding. A fifth fabric was used for the outer border.

It's now about 60" by 78". The blocks are nine inches. I'm quite happy with it.

Mystery quilt top - DONE

The pattern was from Fabric Cafe. Here's a link to the pattern on the internet.  She has a whole series of quilts that she calls 3-yard quilts. (We made it a mystery - it's not sold as a mystery) You take one yard of three different fabrics and make a quilt. It's a cool idea because how often do you buy yardage from a collection and then have no idea what to do with it. While the patterns are fairly basic and yes - you could figure them out yourself, why bother when someone has already done the math for you!

Speaking of the internet, did you know that the internet (the WORLD WIDE WEB) is 30 years old today?????  Gosh - I remember using the web when it first came out. There was not much on it. How the world has changed since the web exploded.

Now the backing, the binding and the top of this quilt are ready to be quilted. What will I do with it? No idea - but at least this class sample did NOT become a UFO. I'm very excited about that.

Backing, binding and quilt top are ready to move into the "to be quilted" pile

Here's another important thing to do. This is the small bag of leftover fabric. There's not much there. But it's important that this gets put away so it doesn't clutter up the place. It's on the pile of stuff to move back downstairs and into the appropriate places. The red fabric will go in the red scrap box. The black print with the purses will go in the novelty fabric and the animal print - in the brown box.

Leftovers from the mystery quilt

While I was prepping for one of the classes on the weekend, I came across this next project. This was made with leftovers from another project that's sitting in the "to be quilted" pile. Hmm - it wasn't in a box or a bag, just piled together. It surfaced when the flood happened.

Block made with leftovers from a previous project

Included with the block were these bits. It never got "finished" because I didn't' know what to do with it. Even though I should have been working on something else, I decided to bite the bullet and make something with this. It's nice to have the luxury of spontaneous projects - I don't allow that to happen too often. There's too much priority stuff to do!

Leftover bits

I took stock of what bits I had. Ran into the bathroom and threw the pieces onto the design wall. Yes - I need to make at least one more panel for the design wall!

This is what I came up with. Now I was SEVEN squares short to make this design happen. So back down to the stash room, found some fabric that worked and made up the missing pieces.

What I made with the leftover bits

I started to sew the blocks together. I see there are some very light blocks down below and some heavier ones above. Might switch a square or two. Two of the "square in a square" blocks are sewn together in the picture below.

Two of the blocks are sewing together

As I looked at it this morning, another thought came to mind. I could leave the star in the center and then place the "square in a square" blocks around the perimeter of the square. I'll have to create something for the corners. Hmm - I need that second design wall panel and this pretty much takes up the full width of the single one that I have. The dark brown fabric is a Patrick Lose basic so I might be able to find a fat quarter to make something in the corners.

I've got some errands to do this morning and then I'll be back in the studio this afternoon, but I won't have time to work on this project. I need to get some real work done!

 OK - I need a road trip to North Carolina. I received another picture from my Make a Mini - Make a Friend swap partner (from Quiltcon) last night. Look at the mini that I made for Katherine against the REAL blue mountains of North Carolina. I'm so thrilled with the quilt - the colors are perfect, the lines are perfect. (there's a big shadow on the center where it was folded which makes that straight line - it's not a straight line). Anyway - I'm so excited that she likes it.

Make a mini - make a friend - quilt against the real blue mountains in North Caroline

I would love to visit Blowing Rock - the small town where Katherine has a quilt store. And there's a quilt pattern from (Row by Row - 2018) that I want to get. It's being sold as a complete pattern in the Raleigh area. I'm not sure that I can buy all eight patterns from one shop or would I have to travel to all 8 participating shops????

Here's the quilt.

Row by Row 2018 quilt (from Raleigh NC shops)

The quilt was designed by HissyFitz Designs. It will eventually be for sale on her website, but she gave the shops a year's exclusivity. Oh - I want the pattern. I don't need the pattern - it's just fun. It's only a 13-hour drive to Raleigh.

I just made a liar out of myself. I clicked on this pattern on HissyFitz website and it's for SALE!!!!  I can buy it for $14. Hmmm - I wonder how much to ship! I hate paying loads for shipping. It's called Sun, Sea, Serenity. Hmm ---  it said $2 for shipping international. That must be a mistake. HELP ME!!!!

That's the problem with the World Wide Web - we see too many things that we want. We don't need them, but we want them. It's hard to control one's self sometimes.

On that note, I've got to get the day rolling. I've got to get these errands done (which will take all morning) and then back to the sewing machine and a new audiobook. I finished the other one yesterday. I see that I have two audiobooks waiting to be read. I'm amazed at how focused I can be at sewing when I'm focusing on the audiobook. Mind you, if I need to do some real focusing, I turn the audiobook off. My brain isn't that good at serious focusing on two things at once. I'm hooked on audiobooks!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!