Tuesday To Do #31: A Finished Top and a Bonus Quilt Finish

Hello and welcome to another round of

Tuesday To Do where we get motivated by joining

 Texas Quilt Gal's link-up, make our lists and then

get things done!

It's a gorgeous fall morning out there.  Whenever the

windows are open, I'm motivated to clean house,

But I'm also motivated to clean up the garden, and

I'm more motivated to play golf.  And to sew!

Fall is a crazy busy time around here but it's all so

enjoyable when the weather is so nice! 

If last week is an indicator of how I'll manage to

get it all done, then I think I'll be okay!

Last week's list

1) Keep working on Snow Day

DONE!

With just a few blocks completed last Tuesday, I took this

and ran with it.  Once the main portion was done, I went

for big and added a 5" border bringing it up to 76 x 89.

It's always good to make the best use of 90" batting!

(Just a side note there, I scored a great deal on my usual

brand of white batting; I added in a roll of the natural

as well and now I'm stocked up for a good long time.)

Speaking of being stocked up, my stash provided a

fantastic backing.  I'm not sure how well it shows in 

this pic but it goes wonderfully.

I also have the binding ready so it won't be

long before this one joins the others in my shop.

2) Start pulling fabrics for Why Knot?

I tried twice to pull fabrics for this but for some reason,

I just wasn't feeling it--which is crazy because I was so

excited to do it!  But I've learned that I can't force these

things so I switched gears and I've started on another

fall quilt that I'll share here in a bit.  Hopefully, I can

figure a good "feel" for those knots very soon though

because fall is already off and running!

3) Make four pillows (8") from embroidery projects

A request from a friend and a surprise for her

daughter so no pics can be posted for now.

Not done:  I have a lots of time to do this but

I'd still like to finish it asap.

4) Finish those pics and listings.

DONE!

I apologize if you've had enough of these but because

I finally got the full pics of my last three finishes, I'm

doing one last quick run through of them all.  Below

are just a few of what I used on my listings.

This first one is WP Stars IV.

I struggled with the right lighting on both WP full-quilt

 pics but the true tan color shows in the rest of the pics.

Stars and ribbons quilting design.

Next up is the bigger of the two, WP Stars III.

I love using my son's extra hat for a prop but here it was

doing double-duty and holding the quilt down in the wind.

A back view.

...and another close up of the quilting design.

And now for Once in a Blue Pumpkin!

The flowers are a bit distracting from the quilt but

it still makes for a pretty pic so I went with it.

I love how the quilt design shows on this one!

At this point, I was already feeling great about my week

but when I was trying hard to pull fabric for the garlic

knots, I came across what I guess I should call a UFO.

Some of you will remember this top from last fall,

Hudson Valley Palisades.

I have a lot of favorites but I really think this one is

easily in the top 3, maybe even 1?

The original pattern was in reds and whites but I worked

hard to turn it into one that showed all the glorious

colors we see on highway up to West Point in the fall.

So you can imagine how upset I was when I realized,

very late into the quilting, that there was something

all wrong with my old machine.

Randomly, all over the back of my quilt.

I'd already had some serious issues sewing my

granddaughter's quilt and this was the last straw.

Right here I decided I was done with that machine.

I would be getting a new one--one I could depend on!

Meanwhile, I had a whole quilt that had these issues

spotted all over the back.   There was no way I could

sell what I thought was going to be my best listing yet.

Outside of ripping the entire thing out, I couldn't think

 of a way to fix it so I finally shoved it into my closet.

It was too painful to look at it.

Last week I was thinking I should just bind it off and

keep it for myself so when I came across it on a few

days ago, I did exactly that.  A bonus finish!

In the end, I got a new long arm and sewing studio,

and I get to keep my favorite quilt so I guess things

didn't turn out all bad.

(And I just realized I didn't get a finish pic so we'll

have to re-visit that next week, along with a few

other things I didn't get time to snap pics of!)

I think it turned out to be a great week overall.

I also slipped in two rounds of golf, performed the

very thorough fall coop clean-up and started

tackling the garden fall clean-up as well.

Looking ahead:

1) Quilt and finish Snow Day

2) Finish cutting out latest fall quilt.

This one is going to be very scrappy.  The pattern

calls for 3 charm packs but I dug into my scraps

and stash and have these cut out so far.

(Black = points; ivory = background and backing)

I might need to audition some of these as I go but

I cut out quite a few extra so I should be taking off

on this one today.

3) Keep thinking on Garlic Knots

I hope to come back again with lots of progress.

Until then, happy quilting!