Low volume zig zag

I got the binding machine sewn on the low volume zig zag last evening. I want to take this quilt to the MQG meeting tomorrow night so I will be cranking thru the hand sewing as soon as I get home from work. The binding fabric is Sunkissed by Sweetwater for Moda. The fabric hand is delicious!

I took pictures of how I attach my binding and make sewn mitered corners when I put the binding on the green and brown quilts. I will try to get a post together.

8th, 9th, 10th and 11th finishes for 2012

Yes, I had a banner weekend finally getting four baby quilts done. They are 36" x 44". I crossed them off my May 17th list I posted. Yeah!

Two of these quilts are earmarked for babies, so that gives me two to add to my stash. Now I need to make some baby girl quilts to add to the stash. Here they are all bundled and ready for delivery.

Baily came over Saturday for a binding lesson. Here is the beautiful orange and white quilt that she machine quilted and needed binding.

and the back

Pressing the binding for handstitching. Baily is a great student and by the fourth corner she had the technique down. I told her I was kicking the baby bird out of the nest! Of course, I also said if she has any problems she can always ask. She showed me how she did her handstitching for binding and I was impressed. I don't know that I would have the patience for the way she does it. You can't even see her stitches - I can't wait to see the finished quilt at Wednesday's MQG meeting.

While we were working on the binding I heard the blimp. I ran outside and took a couple of pictures. For people who grew up in Akron it is no big deal seeing the blimp, but I still think it is pretty cool when I see it fly thru the neighborhood.

I finished the above quilts on Sunday morning and decided to start quilting the low volume zig zag quilt. Well, I ended up getting it finished while I watched the last stage of the Tour of California and it is now ready for binding. I am using a piece of fabric for the binding that I bought the first weekend of May. So out of the 69 yards I bought that weekend I used 1/2 yard. Don't laugh - it's a start!

Here is a couple of pictures from the Tour of California. Peter Segan won 5 out of the 8 stages - that would be every sprint finish! Unreal! Look a the big bottle of wine he won for stage 8.

Weekend projects

I added a couple more items to my to do list that I posted yesterday. I wanted to keep them all on one post. I think I will print the post out and hang it up as a visual reminder in case I can't think of what to do next.

This weekend I plan on binding these quilts.

I plan on finishing the quilting on the third green and brown quilt. I need to cut the binding for it. Then I want to quilt the low volume zig zag and find some binding for it.

My new quilting friend, Bailey, is coming over Saturday for a binding lesson. I promise I will take a picture of her cute orange and white quilt! I will also take pictures of the way I do my binding and post about it next week. Now that I have finally figured out how to take close up shots with my camera, I feel like I can really show what I am doing.

I have been tracking my package with the covers and it looks like they are in San Diego CA already. The are suppose to be delivered by the 21st no later than 4:30 p.m. Whew!!! Good job so far Fed Ex!!!

What is next on the agenda?

Now that the covers are on their way (believe me I will be tracking that Fed Ex package every day until it arrives in California!).
The console cover was stenciled on my lunch hour yesterday. I got them wrangeled and bundled and shipped last night. Now I will be on pins and needles until they are delivered.

I am regrouping and thinking about what is next.
I started a list and in no particular order:
1. Finish the green and brown baby quilts Done the weekend of May 19th
2. Finish the turquoise and brown baby quilt Done the weekend of May 19

3. Finish the low volune zig zag baby quilt Finished May 22, 2012

4. Pink flannel quilt for my sister out of this flannel I just bought

5. Finish an I spy quilt

Done

6. Make a baby quilt out of these leftoversDone 6/6/2012

7. Make this years family Xmas quilt - I have no idea what I am going to do! Done in June

8. My brother's wedding quilt out of this fabric Done Nov, 2012

9. Make a quilt out of these Sunbonnet Sue blocks for a woman who works at the art museum. Done May 28, 2012.

10. I finally got my niece's t-shirts for her graduation quilt.

I guess this is a pretty good start to capturing what I need to get done.
Here are a couple more I thought of last evening.

11. I need to make two Olivia quilts for October out of this fabric. Done September 2012

12. I need to make a small quilt featuring this car fabric. I pulled some pieces from my stash that I will also use. Done July 14

Almost done with the second cover

Darn that was a lot of fabric to mess with!. The sewing part of the cover is done. I still need to stencil it with BACK and FRONT. My arms are sore today from wrestling with this cover, but it is done and that is the best part!

Here is the cover at the sewing machine.

Here is one of the end pieces. Between the measurements the fellow gave me and the pictures this is what I came up with. Cross you fingers!

I folded the binding and pressed it with the handle of a pair of scissors. This binding went around the bottom edge of the cover to reinforce the seams and to give the edges some strength.

Here is the binding sewn on.

So you can get a idea of the size of this I took a picture with the yardstick. I ended up adding a piece of velcro so that they can roll this up when it is not on the console kind of like the way velco works on an unbrella.

I was trying to remember if this is the craziest thing I have ever sewn. I think it comes close. What is the craziest or hardest thing you have ever sewn?

Last evening's project.

I am still waiting on one more measurement for the sound board cover I need to get made, but that is not stopping me from working on this project. It has to be shipped to California and arrive by the 22nd so anything I can get done ahead of time will help. Here is a picture of the console and my calculations.

I needed two stencils, one that said BACK and the other FRONT. The prices to buy these two stencils in a large font were too expensive so I printed them off the computer and hand cut the stencils. This was a lot of work, but I watched/listened to the Tour of California and the Giro d'Italia bike races while I doing this. It was much harder work than I thought it would be, but at least they are now done.

Next I cut out the pieces for the cover. 55" x 140" and 41" x 140" - these two pieces will be sewn together to make a 95" x 140" piece which will go from the back wrap over the top and then cover the front. 280" x 2" - I will fold this piece in half and use it like bias binding around the bottom of the entire cover once it is constructed. I need the height measurement for the front of the cons0le before I can cut out the side panels, but I have the fabric marked with my guess of the measurement plus a little extra if I guess wrong. Each side panel will be 46" wide by 50.5" at the back and then slope down to 38" at the front - the 38" is my guess. Here are all the pieces ready for assembly.

I can't wait to wrestled with this sucker tonight!

What a crazy weekend

I was not going to do anything but play in the studio, well, things change. Saturay I needed to get some template/stencil plastic to make a stencil for one of the covers I am making. I went to Hobby Lobby since I had a gift card and ended up walking out with two packages of stencil plastic, two candles that were half price (made in the USA) and some glass storage jars that were also half price. I then went to JoAnn's and all their quilting notions were on sale half off. I have been wanting the big square ruler, so with half off and using the rest of a gift card I had I only spent $11.00 cash.

Between Saturday and Sunday I machine quilted two and one half baby quilts. I was having a terrible time, because my thread keep breaking. Not sure why, but I don't think I will buy anymore of this brand of thread. It is just not worth saving a few bucks for all the hassel and irritation of the thread breaking. It works fine in bobbin.

For Mother's day my son brought me the complete disography of Motorhead! Yeah, you can never have too much Motorhead. He downloaded them onto my computer and my iPod. He is such a good son!

I worked on finishing the cover for the rack I had started last week. It is huge! It took 10 yards of 55" wide fabric to make this. Now I just have to make the console cover which will take another 10 yards.