Monday Again?

 Didn't do much last week. The sale of my mom's house finalized today. We signed the papers last week and I spent Sunday doing a quick clean.

I loaded, quilted, and added binding to one of the sandwiches I prepped last week.

You'll probably get bored of these long before I finish with them.

You'd be proud of me. I took four quilts to turn in at the Quilts for Kids meeting and didn't bring home any new quilt tops or sandwiches. That's gotta be a first for me. (hehehehe)

Odds and Ends

 Bella started "nesting" in the pile of quilt sandwiches I showed a couple of weeks ago. When she nests, she destroys batting. So I've spent the week prepping the sandwiches for long arm quilting.

Most of the sandwiches were 1.5 yard cuts of fabric...front, back and batting cut to the same size. Spent time deciding what would be the top and what the bottom. Trimming edges and selvages as needed. 

I also made a couple of executive decisions...

This was one sandwich...both fabrics were cute but not together. I split them up and found backs for both.

Some were not even close to being considered a "kid's quilt". I just couldn't quilt this, so split the fabrics up and maybe they will be backs for a future quilt.

This one is just scary ugly. The back with it was a directional fabric that wasn't going in the same direction as the panel. I haven't found another back yet...partly because I really really don't like this panel.

Pressed, trimmed and ready for long arm quilting. I'll probably do a simple meander on all of them. Then I'll have to find binding fabrics.

This one was interesting. The top and border fabric are manufactured pre-quilted fabrics. It was sandwiched without batting and the edges sewn with a serger. I carefully quilted it with my walking foot and added binding.

A different person made this quilt top. I don't know what the fabric is but it is not quilter's cotton. A little stiff. I tried to soften it up a bit with flannel on the back.

I quilted it with an edge to edge pantograph in blue thread. I think the picture is showing my first pass...a little rough...by the end of the quilt my quilting was much smoother.

I found a different blue that I like much better than the blue I showed last week. I shortened the panel also. I have a back for it and the binding is made from a cute sunflower fabric I found at my local quilt shop. Now I have to decide how I'm going to quilt...any suggestions?

This week the boys were back in town. (do I have you singing the Tin Lizzy song?)

There was a third buck, but I couldn't get all three in the same picture.

Auditions

This past week was a bit busy so not much time to sew or quilt until today.

I played with different cornerstones in the sunflower quilt. I showed the black last week.

Gray. My favorite of all.

And blue. The person who requested the quilt liked the blue.

It's a long narrow panel. With the blue cornerstones I recommended shortening the panel. I think it highlights the bird more.

I realized after the fact that I don't have enough of any of the fabrics to use for the binding. Since I'm not crazy about this solid blue, I think I'm going to shop for a different blue and get enough to use for binding also.

I took this light from my mom's house. I really like how it lights up the whole sewing surface. I was sewing blue binding with matching thread and was able to see what I was doing.

This panel was already quilted by someone else. I just trimmed it and added the binding.

Bella has a new friend. She isn't mad or scared, I caught her tail mid wag. Today two foxes went through the backyard and one of them made a quick stop to check Bella out. Wish I could have taken a picture, she was totally bored by the fox.

 

 

It was another busy week. Lots of appointments and I've been going through my mom's house again, making sure I haven't missed anything. My niece took some of her furniture and we both took some Christmas decoration. Moving furniture when it is 98 degrees out is not fun. The estate sale agent takes over tomorrow, and the sale will be September 12-14. Hopefully the house will be empty by the 17th and escrow closes on the 23rd...then I plan on sleeping for a week.

Not much sewing going on.

I made the back and got the ribbon and rose quilt loaded on the frame.

I'm using a kinda dense pantograph with a bright blue thread...probably not the best choice since I'm not very good at pantographs. The blue thread on the solid white shows every jig and jag.

I've been playing with the sunflower panel.

More blue sky or less?

It is kind of long and narrow, so I've then thought about removing the barn. I like the pattern design but I'm not sure about the border or accent fabrics. I need to play more before I sew anything together.

Nothing happened with the number/alphabet panel, but I did get the red binding made. 

The free table at my guild is my downfall. 

How cute is this. There was matching border/binding fabric and backing fabric...all are the softest flannel.

Lots of Prepping

 

Not just in the sewing room.

First, I prepped my mom's house to sell. Lots of cleaning. Lots of staging all the rooms for real estate pictures. Guess it paid off cause the house had two offers the first day and it's been a slow market around here. I've also gone through every nook and cranny of the whole house and main garage to see what is there and what family items should be kept. Still have the RV garage to go through - need to bug bomb it first. Next step is the estate sale. I've met with two estate sale agents so far, both very very different.

I haven't done any sewing this past week but did get a few quick projects prepped also.

Flannel back cut and ready to sew for a quilt top that was donated to Quilts for Kids.

I'm making a friend of my mom's a sunflower wall hanging. I'm keeping it simple, just need to add two pieced borders.

Under it is another airplane quilt top and flannel back. No prep needed there.

Someone put a partially quilted panel quilt on the guild free table. I took it and removed all the quilting. I want to make it a little bit wider so I will be adding red and orange borders down the sides only.

And one of the donated quilts I showed last week just needs binding. 

This is going to be a busy week so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do, but if I do get time I'm ready. 

Exciting News

 

My friend Donna from Idaho won a first place ribbon for one of her quilts at the Western Idaho Fair last weekend. I'm so happy for her!

Donna made and quilted this Judy Niemeyer designed quilt. Unfortunately she was at a long arm seminar and wasn't able to see the quilt on display. Her daughter took the above picture.

(before it was quilted)

Donna makes a Judy Niemeyer quilt every year. They are all beautiful. Way out of my league ;o)

This is more like me...slap a border on a panel and quilt it. (hehehe)

Soft flannel on the back.

What was I thinking!!! Joanne, the Quilts for Kids coordinator, had a friend who is no longer able to sew. She was a regular contributor of quilts to the group. She gave Joanne two totes full of sandwiched quilts. Most are just two pieces of fabric, all have batting, all have the back, batting and top cut to the same size. 

For me to quilt them I'll either have to cut the top fabric down or find a larger back if the top is pieced (few are). I'm not planning on doing anything fancy so these will quilt up quickly.

Bella helping me cut my leader ender strips to size. 

I made a new guild name tag. The J is kinda funky but I thought it turned out cute. It's about 2 x 3 inches. Adding binding to something that small was the hardest thing I've done in ages. ;o)

Oops

 

I was so intent on putting the binding on this:

And a border on this:

(Bella photo bombed)

Before I posted my Monday blog that I totally forgot to post my Monday blog. I remembered about 3 a.m.

I think I have my sewing / quilting mojo back. 

The airplane fabric is actually canvas. It has a really nice feel to it and washed up wonderfully. I love the print. I put a very very soft flannel on the back and used it for the binding so it should be nice and comfy.

I'll load the llama panel on the frame next.

I also finished the quilt that I previously showed loaded on the frame.

Soft flannel on the back. The stripe binding was a bit brighter that I thought it would be but it came from my stash and matchs the paisley.

This guy hasn't been around in a while.

He and a few others showed up yesterday. He's gotten so big.