Lots done

I started out the weekend washing and ironing fabric. The Kona cottons I ordered arrived. The only issue I had was that each yard was wrapped separately in a plastic bag and taped shut. It took a long time to unpackage them and what a pile of plastic bags I had! I thought I took a photo of the fabric in the plastic bags, but I must have done something wrong because I can't find it. Here is what I bought - all 24 yards.

The fabric is all washed, pressed, and ready to use.

I wanted to see how that thread from Vicki was going to look on the 16 patch quilt, so I spent most of Sunday machine quilting. I needed the safety pins for the Harley quilt anyway. I had a hard time stopping quilting. The thread looks so good! I got 28% of the quilt quilted.

I pressed and pieced the backing for the Harley quilt and then I started pin basting it. I used up all the safety pins in my Halloween bucket so as I removed the pins from the 16 patch quilt, I would put them in the Harley quilt. I am about 85% done pin basting the Harley quilt.

The design wall looks so empty. I was looking for something else and decided to put the flannel four patch blocks that I had made a while back up on the wall. I only had a little bit of the white background baseball fabric; I am trying to use up what I have.

I have some scraps of the medium blue hockey fabric and the cream so I will have to make a few more of those to fill in the blanks.

I did spend some time cleaning the leaves out the flower bed, trimming the lavender plants, and digging up the tiny thistle weeds coming up. The daffodils in the big center bed bloomed faster than I thought they would. They look so pretty. I especially like the ones that are very pale yellow. I have one hyacinth that I am surprised has survived the deer. They did chomp on the leaves, but have left the flower for now.

Throw in doing laundry, dishes, making pizza from scratch, and a trip to my brother's house, and it was a busy weekend.

Bits of this and that

I got the bobbins wound for the 16 patch quilt. I am going to use yellow on the back and the variegated thread from Vicki on the front. I was afraid I wouldn't have enough of the variegated thread for both the top and bottom threads since the 16 patch quilt is on the large size. Since the back is mostly yellow, I went with the solid yellow.

I have been washing fabric and have a pile to now iron. The fabric with the skulls is for the Harley quilt.

I forgot to show you two pieces I bought a couple weeks ago at a quilt shop where my son lives. They were both on the clearance rack. I got two yards of the leaf print and took the 5 1/3 yards that was left on the bolt for the other print. I had some of that print in my stash. I like that print so much I just had to buy it! It could be for a back someday.

I got a thank you card for the flannel quilt this morning. This is an example why us quilters receive so much joy from giving the quilts we make away.

Have a great weekend!

2nd finish of 2019

Yeah it is done! It was hard to get it finished last evening because I was so tired, but I put my nose to the grindstone and push thru. I did have to sew the label on this morning. The quilt is now sitting on my co-worker's desk for her to take home to her husband tonight. The backing is a light gray flannel. I quilted it with a gray Aurifil on top and a light gray Connecting Threads Essential light gray for the bobbin thread. The size is 67 x 82, and I used Warm & Natural for the batting.

So what is next? I want to get started on quilting the 16 patch quilt, but I need to have the Harley quilt done. My nephew's band playing in Lorain, Ohio and in May and that is where the lady lives that I need to give the quilt to. The t-shirts quilts take long to quilt since I outline the lettering and motifs so 5 1/2 weeks is not a lot of time to get it done. I also have to spend some serious time working at my brother's house and mine. I need to get the Harley quilt pin basted so I guess that will be next on my list.

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!