Well that totally sucked! I was almost done with my post and it disappeared. Can I write it again as good as I did the first time. Good question. I am at Chicago O’Hare airport waiting for my rescheduled flight to Halifax. Boston is storming and they have cancelled flights in and out. I was the lucky one, I did it when I realized my connection was cancelled. Currently the plan has me still arriving in the same day! Yippee!
Rag Baby Quilt
Spent most of the weekend working on finishing this quilt for today’s travel plans. During the week last week, I cut the 9 inch squares to be used in the Accuquilt. I happen to have 3 of the same die. At first I was irriated with myself for buying it that many times, now I am super happy. Because it is fringing it for you, threads build up in the die and you have to pick them out. With the rush on, I was able to not have to stop until all 98 squares were cut (front and back).
Friday night found my pulling out “the plan” and layering up my blocks to actually cut on the die cutter. I like to match what I will be sewing together so they are cut together. It makes the sewing easier. Got them all cut out and layered with the 6.5 inch batting squares I cut from all my scrap batting. It was an awesome way to use up all that extra batting from the quilts I have finished in the last year. Went to bed at midnight after putting the stack next to the sewing machine for speed sewing on Saturday.
I must confess, as noted in the blog post prior to this, I opted to do some machine applique before starting on that stack of blocks. I just needed to do something different. It was a tough weekend for me staying focused on just one project but I did get all the blocks sewn and laid out the quilt Saturday.
Sunday I finished sewing all those rows together. While I was sewing the rows together I noticed that all my fringes did not cut all the way through. So I brought my snippers to finish that up while I am here. I like to sew all the way around the quilt just so there is a line of stitching on the outside. I loved the results. The coral was perfect pop to this all blue whale quilt. The whales are adorable.
I will be linking up this finish with Capitola Quilter for the 2019 Finishalong 3rd Quarter. You can find my original goals here.
Burp Cloths
The original plan was to make two receiving blankets from the whale and fish fabric leftover. Sunday I realized I did not have enough time to make both the receiving blankets and the burp cloths (which I was going to have to piece together from leftovers). So I called Caitlin to see what she preferred – receiving blankets or burp clothes. Hands down was burp cloths. Plus everyone I have given them to absolutely love the usefulness of these little gems with cloth diapers on one side and flannel on the other.
Caitlin said she had the baby blanket she made in CampFire that she could give her as well.
Sewing Table Update
With the pressure to finish the burp clothes and baby blanket, it didn’t leave much time to work on anything else really. Except I really needed to do a few other things for my sew-a-longs and one other project destined for Halifax.
Caitlin’s Outdoor Patio Tablecloth
This need to be on the plane today as well. Luckily it is a simple project overall, just double-sided. Sunday found me finally sewing the mitered border onto the big squares I cut. I did not realize there was definitely left and right on my striped fabric until I had sewn together the first side. But I was so overjoyed at my perfect mitered corner, I didn’t care. The other side matched up perfectly once I knew. I guess I could have unsewn, but that is not really my style unless I must.
Then I had to decide to use batting or not. I knew I needed at least some basic quilting regardless so the front and back didn’t shift and get all crazy. I learned that it happens when you wash them. Next blog will be the outcome for this project. Got to have a post for each finish you know.
#mamagypsyquiltqal
I need to also finalize my fabric choices for this quilt-a-long that started on August 2nd by Friday so I did that last night. After posting a few different pictures on the website and judging by the likes, I made my final selections to go with the entire Tula Pink Zuma fat quarter bundle and black background. I had bought some other solids and just decided – no. So here they are.
The challenge will be making it all work. I am up to the challenge after all the sew-a-longs and challenges I have done this year.
#100days100blocks2019
And of course, I need to make my blocks that I would need to post while I am traveling. I ended up cutting them on Monday morning and sewing them Monday night. I was thrilled that I was even able to give myself a couple of days reprieve when I get home just in case… Here are the August 4th-7th blocks.
My gate changed so time to pack it up and go to an entirely different concourse (from B to E). Look forward to seeing all your projects and thank you for reading my blog. I know you are all busy people.
Happy Quilting and Safe Travels,
Peggy Stockwell