night-time basting

So, I broke out my can of 505 basting spray and got to work.  Just not on my split rail fence quilt :)




don't worry, I haven't abandoned my split rail to the WIP pile, but I had to switch out because my Madrona Road patchwork is supposed to be my February finish for the lovely year of finishes.  I've got three days to quilt and bind {by hand}.  Think I can make it?  :)

I'm linking up to Show & Tell Tuesday, WIP Wednesday and

quilting, interrupted

I basted the rainbow geese today.  The backing is a yellow, orange, and pink batik with a gold vine printed all over  it.  Yup, it's bold :)  It has also been in my stash for a few years, so putting it to use feels real good.

Anyway, I was quilting away, just straight lines with the walking foot, when my thread broke.  I had to rip some stitches, rethread, and started quilting again.  I didn't get far before I had a nasty tangled mess in the bobbin.  Rip stitches, clean bobbin case, rethread, resume quilting.  Again, I only got a few stitches before my bobbin thread was in a nasty mess.

my machine has never done that before!  and on the back, it looks like this

ick! 

I'm not sure what is going on.  If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.  My machine was recently serviced.  I guess I'm off to mop the floor and figure out what I am going to feed the kids tonight, now that they aren't visiting their Dad as planned.  I hope your national Quilting Day is going a little smoother!

Salt Air & Waves, an update in pictures

This is where I'm at, handstitching the binding on what will be a table runner.



I made a practice sandwhich before I FMQed the actual project {I usually skip that}



the swirly quilting design comes from Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters {love that book!}



{the backside of the table runner}



I pieced together batting scraps for both the table runner & the practice sandwhich



I do love handstitching the binding! {and Wonder clips truely are wonderful!}

PS - I tried to do a wordless post, but I guess i just talk too much :)  i'll share more about this when it is done.  meanwhile, there will be some linking going on...
Design Wall Monday
Little Quilt Monday
Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday
Show and Tell Tuesday

1st Things 1st, Sept.

Have you heard about the new linky party over at {Sew} Allegorical, 1st Things 1st?  If you haven't, go check it out.  I'll wait for you.

{Insert quiet humming to self here}

Ok, so now I know you are just dying to know about my prep work, am I right?  :)
Well, I have been wanting try my hand at embroidery, so when Joanns had a sale on DMC floss I picked up this little pile:

After a few nights of tv watching, I had this

Nice and tidy and all ready to go :)   I  think this new linky is going to be a good influence on me - normally I would just jump in and start stitching from one of my new skeins, still living in the plastic bag they came home in.   Eventually that bag would have a big floss mess in it, and probably be lost somewhere in the depths of my sewing room. 

I've even written the DMC numbers on each little bits of cardboard they are wrapped on, so I'll always know what color is what :)

And then Joanns had another sale, hehehe

I guess I have some more tv watching/prep work ahead of me.  Only, I finished the tv series I was watching on Netflix {Doc Martin}  Any suggestions for a series to start on?  I prefer to keep my entertainment light & fluffy.  {sounds like whipped cream, doesn't it? which is also something I could use...}  I'd love to hear what tv series you all are enjoying right now :)

Basting counts as prep work too, right?  I mean, it's that necessary step no one likes much that you have to do before you can get on with the fun quilting, right?  {If anyone out there is thinking 'hey, I love to baste!' please come to my house.  I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement like I will feed you good food and coffee and you can baste my quilts.}

I finally stopped procrastinating, and now I'm flying through the quilting, woo hoo!   I'm not sure if I will hand stitch the binding on this one.  Machine would save me a lot of time, since this is about 72 inches by 90 inches.  I'm at the point where I just want this quilt done and crossed off the WIP list already - you know how that is, right?

Follow this link to see what everyone else is getting prepped for {I feel like there should be a yellow brick road or something.  probably has more to do with a lack of sleep than anything else}  :)

March Fresh Sewing Day & Small Blog Meet-Up

This winter has been surprisingly snow-free over here in New Hampshire, so we are celebrating March 1st with our biggest snow storm since October! I'm excited at the possibility of getting out on my snowshoes finally!

Want to see what I spent February sewing?

I put my Happy Mochi DP blocks together and added a 3" border of Kona Coal to stretch this quilt a little bit bigger.  I scrubbed my kitchen floor Cinderella style and laid out the whole sha-bang to baste it.  That's when I noticed the backing was too small.  Who would have thought flannel shirting would shrink in the wash? (pretty much everyone but me)  A frantic trip to Joann's later, I had the last bit of this flannel off the bolt, just enough to fix my backing.  Whew!

Every step of this quilt is taking far longer than I expect it to - it's only 66" square(ish) {seriously, does anyone out there ever actually end up with square quilts? On second thought, I don't want to know the answer to that :) }

 

The Curious Quilter is hosting a Postage Stamp Quilt 2012 event.  I made a February goal of sewing 50 pairs of squares toghether, which I did (yay!)  My Dad firmly believes quilts should be scrappy, so I'm making this one for him with 2.5" squares, and each fabric used no more than twice.  My goal is to make it bed sized, but if I need to modify that to finish sometime this century, I will  :)

I also made a tote bag for my Mom this month,

and a Pink Penguin fabric basket that my Mom was seriously hinting should be hers. 

She doesn't know it yet, but it will be hers eventually.  But that is part of a surprise I'm working on...

So that is what I've been sewing this February, how about you?

P.S. - when I finally finish my DP I promise to take it outside for some proper pictures, instead of the rotten indoors-at-night-pictures I keep making you all suffer through.

Small Blog Meet-up & Fresh Sewing Day, Fair Edition

Hello Everybody!  Happy Saturday Morning to my lovely followers, and any sweet people hopping over from Lily's Quilts today!  I'm so glad you are here :)

I know these are two different link-ups, but I'm going to quickly mash them both together in one post because 1) my coffee is getting cold and my applecider doughnut is in serious danger of being snitched while I'm not looking and 2) I'm in a hurry to get back to the Fair between rainclouds today.

*Before reading any further, there is something you should know about me.  I'm completely obsessed with The Deerfield Fair*

If you are ever in New Hampshire the last weekend of September, go.  You'll thank me  :)

Do you have a fair near you that you love?

This year I entered a quilt and a quilted bag.

This is the beast that I've been franticly basteing & quilting lately. All those problems while I was under deadline.  Because why would I enter a quilt that was actually finished before entry forms had to be turned in? {did I mention I'm a procrastinator?} Yes, that is a blue ribbon hanging from it!  Yay for me! 

This quilt is lap-sized, and headed to my sister-in-law.  We struck up a deal awhile ago.  She wallpapered my kitchen, I made her a quilt. 

Remember this?

My little shopping tote got a blue ribbon, too!  And unlike the quilt, I didn't have to finish it at the last minute.  Maybe I'll try making my entries in advance for next year :)  {probably not}

would you indulge a proud Mama for a minute?

There is a pumpkin faces competition for the kids, which my three boys entered.  These two are Santa Clause and Obi-Won Kanobe.  {I wonder what spell check would do if I asked it to check my Star Wars spellings? :) }

And this is Yoda {displayed backwards. he really does have a face on the other side.}

All three of my boys earned blue ribbons!  {three of my nephews also entered pumpkins and earned blues}

It has been a great Fair year, despite the rain trying to wash us away this weekend.  And luckily, my sons are as die-hard about the Fair as I am, so they are willing to risk it. 

my on-going basting drama



This is the top that belongs to the batting & backing that have been taped to my kitchen floor for two days. 

I picked up a can of basting spray today.  Not 505, something different and, as it turns out, much cheaper.  I used Sulky KK 2000, and so far it seems to work as well as the 505.  (To be fair though, I bought the 505 at a small shop & the Sulky at a large dept store, which could have augmented to priced difference.)

Anyway, I was getting ready to iron the top and baste it, when I decided to just lay it out over the batting to be sure everything was cut to the right size.  (This top, batting and backing have been folded up in a bag for about a year now)  See what I noticed?

It's enough to make a girl want to cry.  How do you fix a too short batting that has already been spray basted to the backing?  I sat and stared at it while my kids watched cartoons.  I cooked dinner & we ate it (in the livingroom). 

Then I went through my batting scraps and found one long enough to run the width of the quilt top.  {hurray for scraps!} I laid it out, overlapping the other batting piece, and cut across through both layers of batting.  My hope was to create edges that would abut without gaps.  It mostly worked.  Then I just spray basted the scrap piece next to the larger one.  I'm hoping the quilting will hold the pieces together permanently. 

At any rate, the quilt is off the floor, and my table is back in the kitchen.  Whew! 

progress

Remember all those little squares on my kitchen table?  Well, here they are, and aren't they looking sweet all joined together :)   I haven't decided how to quilt it yet, but will probably use this as a chance to try something new-to-me.

It is about 32" x 34", so I've decided to call it a doll quilt.  Of course, now I need to make a doll to go with it.  And a pillow...

{my husband wanted to make sure he got credit for holding the quilt.  so yeah, those are the arms I'm married to.}

Now that my 'plus' signs are pieced, I was hoping to bring dinner back to the kitchen table, but this is what happened next:

Not very exciting to look at, is it?  :)  I got halfway through basting a quilt on my kitchen floor, and my can of 505 ran out.  Joanns doesn't have any.  I drove all the way to Keepsake, and they didn't have any.  {don't worry, I found a way to console myself while I was there :-) }

Until I figure out what to do, this is taped to my kitchen floor, and the table is in the livingroom.  Mealtime is getting interesting :)

I'm going to link up with The Needle and Thread Network.  Let's go see what everyone is working on!