Hello on this very wet and cold rainy morning
and welcome to another edition of
Last week's goals
1) Finish guild charity quilt #2
Quilt top made by guild.
Done!
By the way, this looks like it's just one big log cabin
block made with jelly roll strips. Filing that idea away.
Would be a great quick project.
More pantograph quilting.
2) Quilt guild charity quilt #3
Quilt top made by guild; sorry, not a great pic.
Done!
On this one, I tried out some of my new toys and FMQ.
No practice, just jumped right in--because it
always looks so easy in the videos, right?
Well, not quite.
More on that under #3
3) Practice with rulers and FMQ
Done!
Like I said, it's just not as easy as it looks--yet.
I finally put a quilting glove on which helped a tiny bit.
I'm just assuming I'll get used to it but I have plans to
watch some tutorials...whenever I find the time.
I also discovered that with the ruler base on the longarm,
ruler quilting on the outer side borders is next to
impossible unless you leave yet another 5" on top of the
usual extra fabric down the sides. Or you take the clamps
off, but that didn't work either. I gave up with the ruler
and free-handed the sides. I surprised myself there.
Though I was pretty frustrated and just flew through it,
the result wasn't all that bad. I think if I slow down and
put more care into it, I could get those down pretty well.
Other than when trying out my first longarm, I haven't
really done FMQ for almost 5 years. I really enjoyed it on
my regular sewing machine but once I moved to a long arm,
I couldn't get enough of what pantographs had to offer.
Attending a couple classes and buying new toys and books
(and Lucey!) has renewed my interest in FMQ. I decided to
play around with a few of Julia Quiltoff's designs in these
rows. Note to self: use visible thread when FMQ! I feel like
I could've done a pretty decent job if I could only have seen
where I'd been! LOL. Ah well. I'm happy enough with it.
**Side-note: Julia highly recommended to us these
story about Pilot Frixion pens. Because I've heard other
stories, I only use the Frixions for marking cutting lines
and anything else that won't show. Btw, I don't get
anything for sharing; I'm just passing along good info.
At $10/12 pens, I've already ordered a pack, knowing that
when I do start marking for FMQ, I can be confident
my marks will not come back to haunt me.
4) Finish all HST's for Waves; continue piecing blocks
Not quite done.
Gracious, this is going slow! I'm doing such a small amount
here and there but I am making progress on it all the time.
This bin is packed full of them and because I'm almost done,
I'm thinking this must be around 1,000? (I need 1280.)
5) 3 QOV blocks (for guild)
Done! (Only two pictured)
6) Pick up cadet at the airport!
Done! As evidenced by the presence of the
MMMP in the sewing room.
Military Mom Mending Pile
(I can play the acronym game as well as the army!)
He is home and enjoying some R&R, home-cooking
and especially seeing his Jeep that he purchased here
while he was up at school. Hubs and I handled getting
it home from the dealer so it was the cadet's first time
behind the wheel--he is so happy with it!
Other things going on:
Fabric Tracking
I dropped off of posting weekly on this.
Probably something to do with guilt! LOL
Regardless of how much I buy, I'm supposed to be
using more...but everything is just all off. I've been so
busy learning new things instead of sewing quilts but
apparently I'm not that busy because I still find time
to peruse fabric sales. I'll just come out with it:
Yards purchased this year: 150
Yards used this year: 115
Now, no need for words of comfort and consolation.
I can still get on top of this situation, especially
in the fall. I just need to put my head down and go.
(And stop looking at sales!)
I have so much to work with! So much to be inspired by!
This is my latest order:
Buttermilk Homestead by Stacy West/Riley Blake
Just look at that beauty!!
I canNOT wait to do something with that FQ set!
I also picked up a couple yards of this (above) one...
because it matches this orange that I already have.
This "vintage Halloween" look is a fave with me.
Truly, I could shop my own stash for a long time
and be really happy with it! And so, I will try.
In the garden
A sample of the "before"
I spent a lot of time weeding the asparagus patch (it's big)
and it now has a thick layer of straw that will hopefully
keep out most of those weeds. I didn't get an after pic
and since it has been pouring rain for about 14 hours,
I'll wait till next week for that one!
I've already picked a gallon of strawberries (in one day)
and they're calling to me now to pick more.
I'm slowly giving the remaining lettuces and spinach to the
chickens. We've had so much salad already and it's about
this time of year that it starts to get a little buggy, or bitter,
or both and I'm done with cleaning it anyway.
I've pruned the peppers and the tomatoes (2nd time);
we have tomatoes setting on already!
I've also been pruning the fruit trees in the orchard--this
is definitely going to be a great year for fruit!
After the last 2 years of freezes, we're excited!
On the golf course
After a couple weeks of trying out two specific clubs, I think
I've settled on the irons I'll be getting. Like everything these
days, they will take weeks (months?) to arrive. UGH.
I'll also need a new bag to go with those new toys clubs
so I've been doing a little searching there.
I got my first birdie last week which was a great feeling.
My tee shot put me right here on this par 3.
No pressure, just putted it right in.
I've only been playing since last fall but from what
I have been told by several including the pro I'm working
with, I'm already doing better than 99% of new golfers.
I really don't know about all that;
I'm just excited to get better as fast as I can.
Golf v. Quilting--and v. the Computer!
It is, as I've said, my exercise and because we have a
membership, I try to go as often as I can. But working
that in with quilting (along with everything else in life!)
has been a real struggle. I recently tracked an entire week's
activities between the hours of 8 and 5 and, not surprisingly,
I have a lot of work to do to gain more control of my time.
Golf takes a chunk but with the longer days, I can get on
very early in the day and be home by about 10:30.
I feel it boosts my energy for the rest of the day, too.
The biggest culprit? Again, no surprise--the computer.
But I do feel like getting it all down on paper was a very
productive first step. Now to make some changes.
Enough chatter. Moving on to next week's goals:
1) Load up one of my own quilts--finally--and quilt it.
It's time I attack that pile of finished tops that I started
building back in January. First up is my American flag
quilt--timely with the holiday weekend coming up.
Incidentally, it's the only top I didn't make a backing for
already so that will be a nice step toward evening out
those fabric tracking numbers.
2) Finish HST's for Waves of Blue
3) Complete Cadet's mending
4) Load up another quilt
5) Play with fabric
6) More golf
In summary, I've been making use of all of my new toys!
Except maybe the fabric--if you can call that "toys".
But a goal of "play with fabric"? I'm pretty sure
I can make that happen too. Especially with all this
rain. Great for the garden and trees but I'm cold.
And it's muddying up the golf courses!
(Kidding--I'll never complain about rain!)
Happy quilting!
