The good, the bad, the in progress

The good - yesterday my roll of batting was sitting by my front door! I wouldn't want to run out and have that slow me down! I buy the 90" wide x 40 yard bolt. This seems like a lot of batting, but if I were to guess I would say this is my 6th or 7th roll I have bought. I got it from JoAnn's at 50% off, free shipping, and I had a gift card my brother and his wife had sent me which helped out the cost.

More good - I am stocked up with Mike's. I didn't know it was sold in 24 oz cans until this past weekend.

And even more good - I got the label sewn on a baby quilt for my sister. The quilt is for her dentist's 12 week old baby girl. This is the quilt she picked out. The quilt is in the mail and on it's way to Georgia.

The bad - it was changing from my sunglasses to my regular glasses and the temple broke. I have an old pair of glasses and the prescriptions are very close, but just enough different that yesterday afternoon I was getting a headache and nauseous. I think I am use to the change today and they are not bothering me too much. The replacement part might be in on Friday so I can go get my glasses fixed on Saturday.

The in progress - I decided I needed to get a few tops made for Vicki at Colorways by Vicki Welsh. Vicki quilts the tops and the quilts go to veterans. I am using those strips hanging on my design wall which are also on my UFO list. The centers will be leftover pieces and parts. Here is the first top started.

3rd finish for 2017 and oh the wind!

This morning I finished sewing on the binding on the soccer boy quilt so I now have my 3rd finish for the year. It turned out 53.75" x 72" and will be a nice utility quilt for someone.

The back was a wide backing from Connecting Threads called Cobblestone. I had bought some in the lavender color for a quilt I made last year for my sister and to get free shipping on this sale fabric I bought some of the beige Cobblestone. Even after washing I thought the fabric was not soft, but for a utility quilt it is fine.

Since this is just a utility quilt, I machine finished the binding. I don't like to straight stitch my binding; I think it makes the binding too stiff. I like to use a staggered zig zag stitch which catches the edge of the binding nicely. I also sew the binding on just like if I was hand stitching it and zig zag it on the back side. Here is a close up of how the stitching looks on the front and back. I also had done this to the Red Dog quilt I just finished.

At lunch yesterday I ran to the grocery to get some coffee for work and picked up a couple of little chickens for me. They have small 5 lb. all natural fresh chickens for a really good price. I put them in a pot on the stove and let them cook while I was at work so by the time I got home they were almost ready to be picked.

I let the chicken cool while I finished quilting the soccer boy quilt and then picked the meat off the bones. I ended up with two containers of meat and 4 quarts of broth. I had thrown some carrots and celery in the broth so it was very tasty. I have been drinking my homemade chicken broth for breakfast and I have noticed I have had more energy!

The wind was fierce last night. I had a hard time getting to sleep because the house just creaked and moaned and some of the branches on the big pine tree outside my bedroom would hit the house! About 11:30 I checked my phone and it said the wind was going to blow hard around 1 a.m.; I already thought it was howling! The wind blew so hard that it blew down some of the temporary fencing at work. I have a feeling I am going to be tired tonight from the lack of sleep, but the sun is suppose to shine today so that will help!

Working on another UFO

I am on a roll! On Sunday I pin basted another UFO and started free motion machine quilting it. After working on it last night too, I am 85% done with the quilting. This quilt had soccer boys on it.

What I have left to do is in the lower left area

I already made the binding so maybe tonight I will get this quilt done. The lighting is dark, but the color of this binding is olive.

I also made oatmeal raisin cookies last night for the guys demolishing the old high school.

We got about an inch or two of snow early this morning so here is what the site looks like covered with snow. The cookies will help the guys work thru the day.

I did good the other day - on what you may ask. My batting roll is getting small!

I got an alert for free shipping from JoAnn's and batting was 50% off plus I had a gift card so I have a roll of batting coming.

2nd finish for 2017

Here is my second finished for the year. This finish checks off a couple of boxes - my OMG one monthly goal project and a UFO finished! The finished size is 53.5" x 64". I used Connecting Threads Essentials in Natural and Warm & Natural batting. Red Dog is a brand of beer which I didn't know at the time I had bought the fabric. I just bought the fabric because I thought the dog image was funny. I have no plans for this quilt so it will go in the stash until I find someone to give it to.

I started another UFO, but I will post my progress on that tomorrow.

Good progress on my OMG project

I have 1/3 of my one monthly goal OMG project quilted! Yeah! I am using Connecting Threads Essential thread in Natural.

I dug around in my stash this morning and found the perfect fabric for the binding for this quilt.

Friday came fast this week since I was off on Monday! It is very cold here;3 degrees this morning! I did go out and walk, burr! At least there was not much wind. We only got a half inch of snow. It's a good weekend to stay inside and sew and that is what I think I will do! Have a great weekend!

Progress on the one montly goal and UFO project

Walking in the cold before work at 6:30 a.m. takes a bit out of me for the day, but I have been hanging in there. By the time I get home from work after a busy day I am a bit tuckered out, but I still try to get something done. My word for the year is MOVE, so move I did.

Last evening I finished up the backing for the Red Dog OMG quilt, taped it down, cut the batting, then spread the top. I pin basted it this morning and now it is ready for quilting!

My One Montly Goal - OMG - Project

Only one post today! Yesterday I just need to catch up.

It is time for me to post Elm Street Quilts' my January goal project http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/p/omg-one-monthly-goal.html

My project will be item 12 on my UFO list. This will probably be a giveaway quilt. I think Red Dog is a beer, but I am not sure. I will have to do a bit of research, but anyway here is the top.

12. Red dog 54" x 65"

I found some large pieces of fabric that would make a fun backing. Between last night and this morning I got the back sewed together. Tonight I will pin baste it and then it is to free motion quilting it!

Here are some pictures of the quilting details I had put in that modern looking piece I recently finished.

I was just playing around with the quilting and this is what I came up with. You can also see that the maroon, green, and navy areas are not one color of fabric - it read that way in the full view.

I just have to post how sad I was that George Michael died. I thought he had such a beautiful voice and a wicked sense of humor. I remember seeing him singing at the Olympics and he looked so good! Rest in peace George.