Another finished quilt and other madness

Tuesday I got my nose to the grindstone and got to work. Here is the 2009 xmas family quilt - DONE finally. It took about 4.5 to 5 hours of machine quilting to finish it. I also altered a t-shirt for a nephew from an adult M to a youth small, took in a vest, and took in a skirt.



Wednesday morning I headed over to my brother's to let the guys in who would be installing a new furnace. My brother left to go back to California the day before. I did a little hand sewing and some messing on the computer, but I just had to get out of there for some lunch and to get warm. I sat there from 8 am to 1:20 in 46 degrees. I had brought my electric blanket (thank goodness!), but my feet were so cold. I met up with an x-cousin for lunch and to give her the alterations I had done for her. They finally were done with the installation at 3:30. My brother told me that it would only take 4 hours - wrong! After the furnace guys left, I was close to the tire shop and they weren't busy so I had my leaking rim fixed and they rotated the tires. I went home and tried to get warm! I was so tired I could hardly stay awake. I told my brother he owes me big time to shooting a day's vacation! I did get the tricot pillowcases that someone had requested done despite being tired. They didn't take as long to make as I thought they would and I was just glad to finally get them done.
Old furnace

New furnace


I left the house Thursday morning at 6:30 to head 50 miles south in freezing rain for a follow up eye doctor appointment. On my hand is the list I had of other errands that I needed to take care of. My brother (a different brother than the furnace one), his wife and son came over to the library and helped me take down my quilts - thank goodness. With their help it only took about 20 minutes to take everything down and get it packed.
I decided since I bought the zipper at JoAnn's on my trip, I decided to go ahead and put it in this jacket last night even though I was tired. I am glad I did because that is one more thing done.

I am not sure what the next three days will bring. I am going over to my brother's house on Sunday and his son is going to help me post my quilts and books on ebay. Monday, Jan. 3, is a holiday for me so I am going to try and make the most of the time.

Completions

I finished the family xmas quilt! Ok, so I was a couple of days late. I quilted for 5 hours on Sunday, put on the label, and now it is done! My brother from S.C. won so now I will have to mail it to him, but I may leave it hanging in the living room for awhile so I can enjoy it awhile before I send it off to it's new home. I forgot to measure it, but the blocks are 8 3/4" square and so that comes to about 70" x 87.5". I used two whole spools of Essentials Cornsilk thread plus part of another spool - about 2800 yards - for the top and bobbin. I need to start thinking about next year's quilt so I have it done well in advance. I will have to look at my inspiration pictures and come up with an idea.


One of my brothers needed a quilt for a friend who just had another daughter. Her name is Wren. I put this together on xmas day - my family has xmas on xmas eve. I only had to hand sew about 3 feet of binding and put on the label on Sunday. My brother is headed back to California on Tuesday so I wanted to get it to him before he left. Since Wren's father is in the music business like my brother, I used some of my black and white fabrics with musical notes, etc. for some of the blocks.

I used Prairie Gothic on the back - I thinks it looks nice and I just didn't feel like piecing the back.


I am taking vacation the next three days. Items on the agenda - altering a t-shirt for my nephew, finishing the 2008 Xmas quilt (I won it so there was no pressure to get it done), straighten out my fabric storage room, clean up the laundry/dyeing/utility room, and straighen out piles of paperwork. My house is a wreck/"hot mess" (from Clean House) so there is no shortage of things to do. I have been so busy sewing that I have had no time to clean. I can't hardly stand the mess anymore.

The continuing xmas quilt saga

I quilted last night and 62% of the quilting is now done. Since I know I won't get it all quilted by tomorrow, I wanted to get the binding on it so it will look more done. I was up at 4:45 this morning and rocked that binding. Tonight I will work on hand stitching it while I mult-task baking pies and cookies - well, at least that's the plan which it more than likely overambitious - ya think?!!

I will be posting inconsistently during the holidays.

Have a safe and happy holiday season!!!

Some serious quilting going on

I got started quilting last evening at 5:30. I had thrown a load of bath towels in the washer -I had used the last one that morning. I started quilting and after 5 minutes I stopped to look at the back, something just didn't feel quite right. Well the bobbin thread was all boogered up. So for 5 minutes of quilting it took me 45 minutes to rip it out. Then I got hungry so I had a little bit of dinner then went back to quilting. I figure I got maybe two hours total in.

This morning I woke up at 4:30 a.m. so I decided to quilt for an hour before I had to get ready for work. I needed to wind some bobbins first. I got in about 45 minutes of actual quilting and I am now 50% done. I am planning for things to go smoother tonight - positive thoughts! I need to wind bobbins first and then I will get to it. I have used 1200 yards of thread so far and it takes me about 8 - 9 minutes to run thru a bobbin of thread. I have gone thru 35 bobbins so far.

I think I am in trouble

I worked really hard these past three days, but I am not where I need to be. I made 8 pillowcases for my nieces and nephews. They are now wrapped.


I hemmed 7 pairs of pants and took in the waist on 3 of those pairs.

I ended up helping to load up the equipment after my nephew's band played Saturday night. We were done loading at 1:15 am. I was so tired Sunday it was hard to think and work, but I muttled thru.

I quilted a lot yesterday, but not as much as I would have liked. My x-cousin was going to come an pick up her pants I fixed so I had to do a little clean up. I also needed to cut some t-shirts up for her. She needed t-shirt fabric to make a scarf. I had a bunch of t-shirts that I am going to make a quilt out of for a lady at the local rec center. The t-shirts are leftover from previous t-ball teams. So yestday I spend 2 to 3 hours sorting a huge box of t-shirts and cutting them apart. That cut into my quilting the xmas quilt. I have 32% of the xmas quilt quilted. I have gone thru about 800-900 yards of thread already. It is a good thing I stocked up last winter on Essentials quilting thread when they had it on sale. I am in trouble though because I doublt that I can get the quilt finished in time for xmas eve. I have tonight to quilt for 3 - 4 hours and the same for Wednesday night. Forget about doing the dishes - they will just have to wait! Thrusday they will probably let us out of work early so I can get started on the pies and cookies and work on the quilt in-between. If I get the binding on I can sit xmas eve at my dad's and do the handstitching. It won't be the first time I have done that! Wish me luck!

Rockin' that quilt!

Right after work I ran up to the Akron Art museum for their annual art Mart. We were very busy between 5:30 and 7:30. Here is Justin who works in the museum gift shop. He is the most interesting fellow. He will graduate from U of Akron with two master degrees one being in fashion. He made the shirt he is wearing. Everyone who came to the register complimented him on it. It was beautiful. He even makes all his own patterns. It was nice to work with someone that spoke the language of sewing! The biggest selling items were one artist's necklaces, wonky men and clocks made from printing blocks, cigar boxes, and other found objects, and handmade cards. I felt bad for the artists that did not sell much. Been there done that - check out my posts from this time last year. I have no idea how to link to them - sorry!



I woke up at 4 a.m., got up at 4:15 and started quilting. I Have 93% of the quilting on the baby quilt done! Here is the picture of the area I have left to quilt. I will have this quilt done tonight for delivery tomorrow!

We have our annual company luncheon in the maintenance garage. The menu is tenderlion of beef, garlic mashed potatoes, and green beans almondine along with salad and homemade cookies. The head of the maintenance does all the cooking and its always good. I am guessing there will be a couple of hundred people to eat. After work I have to run over to the other side of town and pick up my brother's mail at the post office and his house. He is coming home from California on Tuesday so I will have to make another trip to turn on the heat, hot water heater and water so the house is warm and he can take a shower as soon as he gets home.

This weekend is another full one. Tomorrow I deliver the quilt, get my hair cut, sew all afternoon on alterations, then head over to the sports bar where my nephew's band, Retro, is playing. Sunday will be finishing up alterations and start to quilt the xmas quilt. Oh, I have four stocking to make plus the pillowcases to get started. I am taking off Monday so I will report on Tuesday what I managed to get done. I might even wash dishes and bake a few cookies in my spare time (ha! ha!). Have a great productive weekend!

Making great progres on the baby quilt

Last evening I managed to get the quilt pin basted and started quilting. This morning I woke up at 4:50 am so I decided to get up and quilt instead of laying there in my nice warm bed. As of this morning I have 50% of the quilting done! I used the Meadow colored thread. I did have a problem with the thread breaking. The first time - I thought it was a fluke. The second time it broke - I was getting frustrated. The third time - well, it was time the change the needle. Maybe there was a microscopic burr that was catching the thread. It wasn't that the needle was too small - I am using a 110 size 16 topstitching needle. I am really happy with the way the quilting looks.

Tonight I am volunteering at the Akron Art Museum's Art Mart. This is the event I tried to sell my baby quilts at last year. I get the job as the wrapper. I like this job because I get to see up close what everyone buys.

Have a great and productive day!