Ahead of schedule

I got the quilting finished, the binding sewn on three sides, and two of the mitered corners sewn!

I am going to try and finish this tonight.

I did take a walk out back and my Lenten roses are blooming. They always bloom this early. Gosh that bed needs some cleaning up. LOL!!!

A plan for the rest of the week

Yesterday was a 10 hour day at work. Despite that I still managed to get some quilting done on the flannel quilt. Here is where I was at the beginning (the arrows point at what still needs quilted)

and this shows how much I have left to quilt after quilting last evening

My plan is to try and get the quilting done this evening; I am not working another 10 hour day today! Then Wednesday and Thursday evenings will be doing the binding and adding a label, then Friday I can gift it.

When I got home there were packages. I got the quilting thread from Vicki of Colorways By Vicki. Thank you Vicki! I plan to use the one circled for the 16 patch quilt. I have lots of leftover pieces from the 16 patch so I will put those together into baby quilts and veteran quilt tops to send to Vicki. I will quilt the baby quilts with the remaining two spools.

I have been trying not to buy fabric, but sometimes a project comes along that you need something special that you don't have in your stash or the deal is just to good to pass up. I bought the unicorn fabric and the penguin fabric for making either boxy pouches or tote bags for two little girls for Easter to put candy in, and the skull fabric will be kept for the back of a Harley quilt in the future. The Harley fabric was only $5 a yard so I could not pass it up.

While I was shopping I bought these three pieces too just because I liked them and it is sometimes hard to find light colored prints. I really like the red print so I got a yard of that.

Look how nice the fabric was wrapped. I got this from Bear Creek Quilting Company. This was my first order from them. I ordered it on Friday and received it on Monday. That's great service!

I have more fabric coming. I will post about that once it arrives.


The daffodils next to the house have bloomed and they are so pretty!

This the view from the sewing studio window

The ones in the rest of the yard will be blooming in the next couple of weeks.

16 patch and flannel quilt

I finished pin basting the 16 patch quilt, carefully folded it, and set it aside. I needed the room on my table to work on the flannel quilt while I waited for the thread to arrive this week for the 16 patch quilt.

The flannel quilt was going to be all 9 patch blocks, but I ran into a problem. I had plenty of the blocks like the one here on the left, but I didn't have enough of the blocks with the solid corners like the one on the right in this picture.

Plan B - I will put a plain block between the 9 patch blocks and use all the blocks with the plaid in the corners. I debated whether to use a solid color gray or this printed gray fabric, but since I didn't have enough of the solid gray the decision was made for me! LOL!! I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but it turned out I did.

By the time I went to bed Saturday night I had the top sewn together and the quilt pin basted! This quilt was quick to put together since I already had the 9 patch blocks made. I think I have enough 9 patch blocks for two more quilts but I will have to get more solid or tone on tone for the adjoining blocks. Sunday was all about quilting. I made the design bigger since I didn't want to quilt so densely on a flannel quilt.

I am now halfway done with machine quilting this quilt. I didn't have enough of that printed gray for all the blocks, so I used a navy printed flannel for the center area. I think it gives it a bit more design than if I would have then all gray.

Pin basting almost done

I am now 80% done with pin basting the 16 patch quilt. I have circled the center area still left to pin and the bottom row that hung over the edge of the table. I pinned as far as I could reach then pulled the tape that was on the table leaf that I dropped. Once I get the middle done, I will untape the rest of the top and pull the quilt up so I can pin that bottom row.

I received a couple of offers for thread to quilt this quilt with. Thank you for your offers Barb and Vicki! Quilters are always coming to the rescue of their fellow quilters! Vicki of Colorways by Vicki Welsh sent me picture of thread she would love to get rid of that might work for the quilt. I emailed her which ones could work and before I knew it the package was on its way. Here are the pictures she sent me.

Vicki blogs all the time about how she has too much thread. I don't see that as a problem! LOL!! I am excited to see what she sent me and to get started next week on quilting the 16 patch! Yes, I will be going in a completely different direction with the thread choice rather than using that solid soft yellow. Quilting this quilt is going to be fun with using a pretty variegated thread! Thank you Vicki!

In the meantime, I plan on spending my weekend working on the flannel quilt, do odd jobs around the house, and doing some yardwork at my brother's house. It is going to be busy!

I did fix the hem in a pair of pants for a fellow at work. He had asked me about stitch witchery and I said NO! Just bring your pants and I will sew the hem.

I got a new 9" x 13" pan. The last time I made a cheesecake in my old pan the edges of the cheesecake had a metallic taste to them. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I will try this pan out and see how it goes. At least it came with a snap on lid. The old pan will be place din the recycle bin. That old pan is just plain sad!

Have a great weekend!

Pin basting, yard work, and next quilt project

I have a third of the 16 patch quilt pin basted. Pin basting this one is going to take a while!

Meanwhile, I looked at my thread stash to decide what thread I am going to quilt this quilt with. I pulled out Signature thread in white and parchment, King Tut in white linen, a soft yellow Aurifil, and Connecting Thread in Lemon. My choice will be the soft yellow Aurifil on the front and Lemon on the back.

Meanwhile, I had an empty design wall and the need to make a quilt for the husband of a lady I work with. He is undergoing surgery next month and I think he will need a quilt for his recovery. I dug out my container with 9 patch flannel blocks that I had sewn last year and started putting them on the design wall.

As soon as I got home from work I decided to do some raking at the side yard. The sun was shining and it was warm so I just wanted to stay outside a bit. The wind was blowing from the front of the house to the back so it made sense to go with the wind while raking! There were about a million sticks from the neighbor's tree. Here is the before. The first picture where the blue line is, that is the neighbor's yard. The second picture is down the hill.

I raked and used the lopping shears to trim back my neighbor's growth that was starting to creep to my side. He won't care. This patch of his is beyond unkept. There are big vines growing into the trees that are choking them. It is a mess. I have live here 15 years and it has only been cleaned up once. So after an hour I ended up with a good sized pile of leaves and sticks. It looks better especially since I picked up all the trash bags and paper that had gotten caught in the tangled mess.

My daffodils are going to be blooming soon - at least the ones next to the house. The yellow flowers are peeking out.

I got this CD at the library last night. So far it is very entertaining. Bruce tells stories and sings. He does use the F word at times just so you know. It doesn't bother me; I have heard a lot worse. My brother who has toured with him, went to NY to see the show and said it was excellent. That is translating to the CD. I started listening to it this morning on my drive to work.

Layered up!

I finished piecing the back together. I taped it down, cut some batting, and laid out the quilt top. It is all ready for me to start pin basting!

The back is a combination of Jane Sassaman and African Dutch Wax Fabrics. I still need to figure out what color of thread I am going to quilt it with. I am leaning toward a yellow in my head, but I will have to try out several colors. The other deciding factor will be if I have enough in my thread stash to quilt this quilt. I am not going to buy any thread! Well, I am going to try not to buy any! LOL!!!

Productive weekend

I was up early Saturday and worked on the 16 patch quilt top. I left the house about 10 and didn't get back until after 6 p.m. I went to visit family and on the way home stopped at three different grocery stores. Sunday I got back at the quilt top and finished sewing it together.

I dug around the fabric storage room and found some pieces for the back. I want it to be as colorful as the front. I am using six pieces that were also used to make six of the 16 patch blocks. I have it almost sewn together.

Mother Nature is being mean right now. I rained all day Saturday then it turned to snow. We ended up with a couple inches. Here is a picture out the sewing room window. In the foreground are the daffodils. It is suppose to warm up to 44 today so I think they will be ok. I had gotten down to 20 degrees overnight. The next picture is what it look like at 8 p.m. I did see a salt truck this morning. The roads in Akron were covered, but as soon as I left the city limits the roads were clear.

Update on the iron situation - I decided to try cleaning my old iron before I declared it trash. I couldn't remember how to clean it so therefore I hadn't cleaned in in a couple of years. I got the directions out from the box with the new iron and guess what? After running it thru the cleaning mode three times, it steams again! I am such a goof! I plan on continuing to use it until it craps out and keep the new one for a spare.

I did make more banana cupcakes on Sunday. My boss's birthday is today so I made them for her.