Sunday, July 30, 2017

July's final post

How easy it is to hole one's self up in their air-conditioned sewing room when they have a project going that they want to finish, but today was a beautiful day.  It was 86 and breezy and just so sunny that I sat outside all afternoon and put the binding on my Roaring Waves quilt.  


It is now complete AND I got to enjoy the weather as well.


Not only did I enjoy sewing and enjoy the weather, but my flowers and all the greenery are just bursting this year with nature's beauty.  I guess the weather has been perfect for everything this year.

My hydrangea are prolific and huge.



They are ready to pick and dry so that I can enjoy them all winter long. 

Also, this is the first year that my pink hydrangea have bloomed; and I have had this plant for years.  It  has never bloomed at all, but this year it surprised me and is bursting at the seams.  I have done nothing to ensure that the flowers were pink, too.



The Rose of Sharon are producing huge flowers, too.  They are as big as saucers.  




I can't remember what these flowers are called, but they bring a beautiful purple to my little English garden.


Then there is my favorite tree in the back yard.  It's a Weeping Katsura.  Several years ago my son planted it with the intent of replanting it in his own yard.  Well, it is definitely staying here since it is so large that he couldn't move it without possibly damaging it.  So, lucky me....I get to continue to enjoy it.  My little grandson loves hiding underneath it and believe me....it is hard to see him when he is under there.  


Well, the day was coming to an end, so I decided to hang my Roaring Waves on the kitchen quilt rack.  


I wish I could have had this up for the Fourth of July, but ...hey...it's still July and I love red, white and blue any time of the year; so I will enjoy this one for awhile until the next holiday comes along. 

Hope you had great weather where you're at and that you got to do what you love to do, too.  





Friday, July 28, 2017

Motivational Friday....

What's more motivating than to realize you have done NOTHING all week ....at least in the sewing department?

On a private message board we report what we have done for the week to help motivate others and I had nothing to report, so today I got busy to remedy that.


I made a template to help with getting my circle blocks centered perfectly on the grid of bronze Cherrywood I had made previously.


I have glue basted the first four on the first section and will stitch them down  in front of the TV tonight. 


Then I got the Roaring Waves on the long arm this morning.


Early this week I had made copies of a free panto pattern and taped  all the 8x11 sheets together to use on the long arm.  I wanted to use this one on Roaring Waves.  It is called Starlets.

Here's a couple close ups of the quilting. 




Roaring Waves is quilted.


I love the backing I chose for this quilt.  It is all the states.


The binding is made, but that will wait for another day.  This weekend is busy; and I am feeling good to have something to report for this week. 

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Roaring Waves......


Back on July 7 I mentioned about buying this kit from one of my favorite local quilt shops.
It is made with 12 fat quarters and I had those cut and stitched together  before  the washer died.


Once the washer died, I decided to strip the old wall paper out of the now empty laundry room and get it painted.  What an ordeal!  That paper had been on those walls so long, it just didn't want to come down.  So.....it decided to take the walls with it.  What a mess we got ourselves into.  Anyways, nearly two weeks went by.....drywalling, painting getting the new washer and dryer installed. It's done and looks great now.  Thank goodness there is no more wallpaper in this house.  

So yesterday was my first day back into the sewing room (July 17).  I cut my strips from the tubes that I made and pinned them to the ironing board.



Then the tubes of strips  needed to be staggered like a bargello quilt.


From there I stitched the center.


Then today (July 18), I started adding my borders.

First border was a 1" (finished) navy border.


Then there was the 4 1/2" outer border; and that makes for a completed top (flimsy).


Here's a close up of some of the cute fabrics in this quilt.  The majority of the fabrics are from Sweetwater ..... and the line is Liberty.


It was a good feeling to get back into the sewing room after a couple of weeks AND to complete a quilt top.  It's now on the "to be quilted pile".  I believe it won't be long before this one is totally done as the binding is made and the backing is already pieced.

The pattern can be found on AllPeopleQuilt and it is called Roaring Waves.




Friday, July 7, 2017

MishMash

Right now I have no business sewing at all.  The washing machine died, so we went out and bought a new washer and dryer.  Since they were out of the laundry room, I decided to tear down the wallpaper that has been in there 20 some odd years.  That in itself has been a disaster.

Just prior to this escapade, the gals and I went on a little shop hop with instructions that I was NOT to buy any fabric.  You'll see that they were not of any help in that department.


Bought this adorable fox fabric for Jude who just moved into his "big boy" bed and his room has a fox theme, so I made him a pillowcase. 

Then I found this adorable little wallet that I am going to make from stash fabric.  Problem is...there are too many choices and I don't know which route to go.  


Also, I bought a KIT.  I never buy kits, but this one was adorable in one of my favorite quilt shops.  I have already purchased backing online and had to buy one of the fabrics that they had substituted something else in the kit.  


So far, I have stitched together the strips getting them ready to be sliced up.  It would have been nice to have this for the Fourth, but it will be ready for next year for sure. 

Quite awhile ago, I won a contest on Jan Patek's website for naming one of her blocks or quilts (can't remember which).  I was to get a pattern.  Well, they lost my info and a lot of time passed and I kind of forgot about it until the other day when the pattern came in the mail along with another pattern for being so late (they finally found my info).  I love them both!!


Then today when we realized that the drywall mud was not dry enough to sand, I started putting the Hearts and Hands blocks onto their respective places on the  background and pinned them in place.  Now I can get ready to stitch them down.


Ok....back to getting the laundry room into shape.   


Michigan quilters, take note

  Come see us at our first Quilter's to Quilter's sale.   Don't know what that is?  Well, it will be 28 quilters/vendors selling...