Coming to you from Starbucks Reserve in Cupertino at 6am. Yes – hockey. It’s been a busy week. I would love to say all the busy was quilting but my day job and my night job keep getting in the way. LOL!
Despite everything, I was finally able to finish up my Wooly Mug Rugs for September which is a schoolhouse. It’s hard to believe it literally took my 5 weeks to finish this up. Knock another finish off my Finish-A-Long list. I will be linking up with Capitola Quilter for 3rd Quarter finish. My original list can be found here.
I know I don’t work on them all the time, but it just seems to take forever. The embroidery embellishment on this set was not too bad. The apples is called a Chinese knot. It wasn’t hard, but I still seemed to end up with apples a wee bit larger than I had in mind. I will have to keep this stitch in mind for future use though. It was not hard, it was total operator error. The chain stitch, back stitch, and French knot are all old hat at this point so went smooth as butter.
Halloween Placemats
I thought I took more photos during the process, but I just imagined that I guess. I have decided to make the Shabby Fabrics Easy Pieced Table Runner for October so I used the pieced block as the center of the (now) front of the placemats. My only problem was that this pattern is at least 4 colors so I went with 5 because I decided I did not want white to be the prominent color. I choose the orange, black, and purple kitties I used for the (now) back and added a grunge white and Alison Glass green sunprint. I am pleased with the how they turned out. I was jazzed to finish my four fronts by Saturday which means that I had a #onethingwithAmyfinish. Yea!
I had a little shopping therapy yesterday while I hunted down a stripe that will be in the table runner as well as the binding for everything. I found the perfect binding. I also picked up some grunge for my applique background and a sunrise/sunset ombre to use for the various applique pieces. I thought that was a brilliant idea just in case my scrap stash doesn’t have what I need. If I have enough scraps then I have a yard of some pretty amazing fabric.
I was so jazzed after all my shopping finds. I came home and skipped the MLS last home game just so I could work on the placemats. Alas, epic failure in the free motion department. I pulled out a variegated thread that I had in my thread stash for a while. I am not sure if it was the thread, the operator, the foot, or any of the other hundreds of things that effect the outcome on sewing machine. I had decided on a pumpkin fmq design. I had toyed with a spiderweb but decided I didn’t want to spend that kind of time on the placemats. No matter what I did, I could not complete even one placemat without the thread breaking every few minutes. I do not exaggerate at all. When I got really frustrated, I finally set it aside for now and accepted that this project will not be completed in time for my September One Monthly Goal. I am so darn close!
The things about goals is that they should motivate you not demotivate you. I do not know how you use goals, sew-a-longs, challenges, etc. For me, I try to use them to move myself forward and not allow myself to beat me up, when life happens or in this case, the sewing machine happens. It is good to have a goal or target in mind. It should be a positive experience, especially when this is your hobby or stress reliever.
Sew-A-Long Updates
#100days100blocks2019
This sew-a-long is winding up. We are on day 92 with only 8 days left. My #onethingwithAmy this week will be to finish my last 8 blocks before Friday. We head out of town for hockey again this Friday. It is in Nor-Cal, but still not sleeping in my own bed. Should be doable despite the crazy work schedule. Here are blocks 84-91 (September 22nd – September 30th):
#fw1920eppsal
This week I was able to cut two more blocks (31-32) and glue baste block 31. I was able to get my official pictures done for blocks 28-30. They are pictured below. I even started block 31. The sew-a-long really feels like it is moving right at the moment. I am not sure if I am just stitching faster or I am just in the groove. It can be motivating knowing you are a fourth of the way also.
I did two more fabric pulls for the next two blocks. The queued up and ready to be cut.
#365blockchallenge
I was able to cut two blocks this week and finish sewing one of them. I continue plugging away at this quilt. I am halfway through sewing one of the other blocks. It is hard so I am taking my time with it and trying to match all those tiny points for this block. Here is the block I did finish this week:
Applique Update
Other than the schoolhouse mug rugs, I have not progress here. I have added the October Easy Pieced table runner to my list of applique projects to finish. As you learned above, I have my fabric pull. Now it is time to trace everything on to the fusible. This is also the stage for the Jack ‘O Lantern wooly mug rugs. I will try and finish that this week so I have that project in my ToGo hockey bag.
So recap applique projects on the sewing table – Jack ‘O Lantern wooly mug rugs, October Easy Pieced Table Runner (haunted house), and the Blooming Series (Pansies). It is close to end of the quarter so this list will be expanding soon.
Quilting to be Done
As mentioned above I have the placemats to finish with their pumpkin design. Giving them a moment to see if I can figure out why this is not going well.
I also have my charity quilt to finish. I think I will work on that tonight to see if I can figure out what went wrong above. Who knows, maybe I will have a finish on this one!
I still have the 2010 NYE Quilt that is partial quilted as well. I need to add at least one quilt to this list for the upcoming quarter. Time to think about what it will be.
On the Sewing Table
The Halloween placemats and table runner moved to the top of this priority list. See above for a more in-depth discussion. Still on this list is my Halifax Temperature quilt which I continue to sew HST between projects. On August 2018 with only 5 days left to sew and attach. Obviously, if I focused, it could be done!
Tula Pink Zuma Charm Squared in holding pattern as is my Sunflower Charm Squared quilt. It would be nice to finish these top and at least move them to the completed quilt top section of my sewing room. LOL! Sometime, I will have to do a blog on what is in that section of the quilt room.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for stopping by and listening to my rambling. Time to pick up the boy child from hockey. Have a great week!
Peggy Stockwell