3 days in the Quilt Lab

It was a lovely 3 day weekend at my house filled with all kinds of sewing and quilting.

Friday was spent watching DVDs and finishing the tree skirt. It doesn't quite lay flat so I'm going to go at it with some starch and a steam iron before I sandwich this coming weekend.

Saturday was mostly about making progress on Bonnie's Mackinac design.

First I finished 50 of 120 tri-recs. They still need to be sliver trimmed but I think they are pretty close. You can see from the note card that I decided how many blocks I wanted in the finished quilt and then counted out how many "parts" I needed so that the process was more like one of Bonnie's mystery quilts: I needed 30 square in squares, 120 tri-recs, 480 HSTs.

My assistant had to be bribed with a chair next to my chair so I could sit at the sewing machine.

Next up was 30 square in square blocks. Had I re-read the directions properly I would have gotten them done faster AND I could have used the fabric strips I had set aside for this project a month ago.

I cut the center square 1/4" too big but didn't realize until after I had 2 opposite triangles sewn on and the dog ears trimmed. I un-stitched one triangle and trimmed down 3 sides of the center then put the triangles back on. But then they also had to be trimmed down to the right finished size. There was a lot of trimming down, partly my fault but partly the design of the block. Life would have been easier if I had been able to find that out-of-production square in a square ruler that Bonnie used...I'm still looking!

Eventually they were all done!
Now all that's left is 155 more HST that will be sewn into "4patches". The strips are cut so I just need to cut them with the easy angle and start sewing.

The sewing included making a tie for my nephew's birthday last weekend. I think he liked it but it was hard to be excited about a tie when the Easter Bunny had gifted huge baskets of toys and candy.

Finally needing some more handwork for TV time, I pulled out Mickey's on the road project to work on adding sashing to some of the finished rosettes. It's monotonous work but needs to be done so I can lay it all out and figure out how many more rosettes to make during my upcoming conferences and camping trip.

And with that the weekend was over. Is it naptime yet?

Monday update

I must say, I haven't accomplished much in the sewing department lately. January is one of my busiest months and that translates from late days at work to no desire to do anything but hit the couch when I get home.

I have been slowly working on my version of Bonnie's Mackinac quilt. I need 480 HSTs and I'm down to needing just 155 more. Woot!

What do all y'all do with the dog ears that you trim off your HSTs? Many moons ago I saw a neat clear glass Christmas ornament partially filled with dog ears. Ever since I've been saving mine in this old canning jar. The jar keeps them pretty neat until a naughty B&W cat gets in to them...

This weekend my nephew turned 13! A teenager!! Eeeek!! I can remember changing his stinky diapers just like it was yesterday and I've got pictures to prove it. LOL.

Anyways...the boy is a hockey fiend and he's been playing since he was 4 or 5 so I decided that he needed a hockey tie. I won't say that tie making is the easiest or hardest project in the world but it sure is fiddly work.

I think the tie was a hit but Tyler had been up half the night with a sleepover party and just finished a game before he opened presents so, yes, he does look like he's half asleep. A highlight before their game yesterday was the team posing with a local professional hockey player who is going to the Olympics in a couple weeks. Good luck Brian Gianta!!!

No, I didn't watch the super bowl yesterday but I did have a wonderful snack. A s'mores mug cake. I've stalled using this book for a while because most of the recipes make 2 cakes but it finally dawned on me that this rarely used soup mug would be perfect to make an entire recipe. It's not in the photo but I also added a scoop of homemade root beer ice cream. Thanks Janet!!

Happy Monday!!!

Quilty weekend

Woohoo!! I've got internet back at work - it was 3 of the longest days possible without internet radio to fill the silence. Zorro even got a fan letter that he was missed on Feline Friday. He was pretty chuffed.

Anyway - I spent every spare moment this weekend cutting and stitching. I had a blast to work on something for ME, even tho the need to work on gifts kept nagging me.

I spent Friday evening cutting fabric - first I wanted to cut the neutral and coral strips needed to make Bonnie's Mystery Clue #3. Then I cut the strips needed to make Straits of Mackinac, another Bonnie pattern. I've been collecting turquoise fabrics for some time to make Mackinac and it worked out great that the mystery is also using turquoise. I'll be thinking of a different name for my quilt but I'm not inspired yet...


Saturday I took all my strips to guild sit-n-sew to subcut for Clue #3 and for Mackinac. I probably would have made a little more progress on cutting if I had double checked my drawing. I cut the neutrals for the tri part of the tri-recs. I wasted a lot of fabric recutting them into the recs part. Live & learn!

I was also texting with a friend who was saying something to the effect of hoping to not lose track while cutting up to a high number. I've shared this before but I'll share it again...

If I were actually counting - this would be 140 pieces.

I use antique thimbles to count what I've cut. a thimble on it's side is 5 and standing up is 10. A button is 100. It's easy for me and I get to enjoy the vintage/antique thimbles, most of which don't even fit my pinky finger.

I did a little grocery shopping after guild and then spent the evening on the couch working on hexies. I watched Spare Parts. I love true movies!

Sunday morning was housework and then a work related Christmas party but I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening back in the quilt lab.

First I had to finish pressing Clue #2.

Then I had to sew and press Clue #3. Don't forget to check out the linky party today!!!

Am I the only person with a callus from ironing? I've had the callus on my hand for a while and never thought about it but with all the ironing with my (heavy on purpose) iron it was irritating the callous. Who knew...

I've got quite a little pile of bits for the mystery quilt so far. I'm excited for clue #4 but I really need to work on some gifts this week.

In the meantime I'll keep plugging away at my Mackinac blocks...lots of pressing to do...