Quickie Post

Just a quickie post today - I didn't get a huge amount of quilting done this week, and I only have about 30 minutes before I have to head out the door.

I made the smallest of my tree skirt/table topper items - it came out quite cute:

It's just over 20 inches from widest point to widest point. It did measure 22 inches before quilting, but I've quilted it quite heavily.

For the next one I'll use a better quality thread, this one was a nice shiny one, but it was a little sticky for my machine and gave me all sorts of tension problems. Sometimes you just get to a point where you don't want to do a bunch of unpicking and it's easier to grit your teeth and keep going.

It looks cute from the back though! I dug the backing fabric from deep stash - the fat quarter didn't have any identifiers on the selvedge edge, so I'm not sure who it's by, but I really like it!

And the last image for the day - I'm sewing the binding down on the tree skirt I showed you last week - I'm hoping to take it along tomorrow so I can hand stitch the binding on the reverse side while I watch Camo play tennis.

That's it for this week, thank you so much for visiting and commenting on last week's post, I always appreciate hearing from you all!

Check that list!

Isn't it a wonderful feeling when you can check some items off the endless list of things to do? I've been able to do that this week, and it feels so great! They're just small things, but each finish has an accompanying sense of relief!

I had wanted to make up another of these applique block mats:

The secret squirrel project was started and finished:

And I'm now busy working on the tree skirts/table topper patterns for my Etsy store:

My tree skirt pattern has been extremely popular for a number of years, and each year I receive many enquiries about whether I can provide the pattern in different sizes. And I'm sure that for every enquiry I receive, there would be even more people that just move on. So, I'm working on three new sizes, two smaller that can also be used as table toppers, and then one larger - hopefully people will be able to find one that suits them.

It is my preference to always make the projects first, so I know that I'll get the fabric requirements and instructions right rather than just make guesses - so the one above is the first one on the machine. It finishes at 34" from tip to tip.

I'm machine quilting right now - just some organic scrolly things - my machine quilting could definitely use some improvement - my own fault entirely, because I simply don't take the time to practice. Having said that though, I recently got a ruler foot for my machine, and I've ordered a couple of rulers to play around with, so maybe there will be more adventurous machine quilting in my future?

This afternoon I'll be back to the sewing room - hopefully I'll finish the quilting today. The only interruption will be a trip to a nearby lighting store - I've had a call that the new light fittings I've ordered for our family room are ready to be collected. I hadn't liked the fixtures since we moved into this house in 1999 - but I had no idea what I wanted instead and was completely at a standstill about what to do. Anyway ... you just can't rush these things ... and finally I've made some progress in that regard. Another list item checked off!

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my post last week - I appreciate you all visiting so much! xox

First Friday, check!

I tried so hard to get all the things done that were on my list for this past week, and I think it's fair to say that I made it!

The quilt I've been working on for our soon to be arriving Grandbaby is now complete - I finished the binding and washed it to remove all the hand quilting marks.

This was such a fun project, and I loved that I was able to re-use the feature fabric from Amy's baby quilts - it feels very nostalgic. I'm thinking I may make this one up again sometime with some more modern fabrics and put together a pattern for my Etsy store.

Just another fun angle so you can see the quilting a little better and also the adorable 'people quilt' fabric. 

And because the 'people quilt' was out of the hoop, I replaced it with something I haven't worked on in a really long time!

This is the queen size wholecloth I've had on the go for a really long time. I'm pretty sure it has been YEARS since I've spent any time with this top. Just for nostalgia's sake I put a few stitches in it right away, but I will have to leave it be for a little while as I have other things to concentrate on first.

The next thing I needed to check off the endless to-do list was to finish up with Phebe. Even though I'd resolved to finish up the binding etc last year, I hadn't gotten it done. So, I made up the label and the hanging sleeve, got them in place, and finished hand stitching down the binding.

It was about 10.30 on Wednesday evening when I placed the last stitches, and then I gave it a 30 minute ride in the washing machine to remove all the quilting lines. My habit is to lay the quilt out on the lounge room floor on towels so it can dry flat so that was the last thing I did before I headed to bed - pretty much exhausted. When I wandered past on Thursday in the afternoon, it was fun to see the dappled light highlighting the quilting while it was drying:

Today is going to be a busy day - I have an optometrist appt, a coffee date with a cousin, and so much preparation for a birthday celebration. We're having a bunch of friends over for a formal dinner this evening. 

This is the menu:

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Beef Bourguignon

Mixed Berry Eton Mess

I started working on the pavlova/meringue component of the dessert last night, but I have a bunch of cooking still to do. I'm really looking forward to it, and if I remember I'll take some pictures as I go along. 

From a quilting perspective, during the next week I have a secret squirrel block to work on, and I need to get some patterns ready for Etsy that I've had requests for. Let's see how far I get!

A big thank you so those of you that stopped by and commented on my recent posts. I wasn't able to respond to some of you due to email addresses not being enabled etc, but thank you for your notes all the same. I'll chatter with you again on Friday next week!

Happy New Year- Welcome 2021!

Happy New Year lovely readers, I hope you were all able to spend New Years Day doing all the things you'd like to continue doing for the rest of 2021. It's a fun little ritual for sure, why not start the year off on a good foot :-)

I had been doing a little thinking on what I'd like to have as a resolution for this year (from a quilting perspective) - there have been some bloggers resolving to make sure they spend at minimum 15 minutes quilting each day. I thought this would be a great one to take on, and got ready preparing a spreadsheet to record my progress ... but then I changed my mind. I realised I do already quilt every day (it's a strange day for me not to) so I'm just adding paperwork ... So, instead my resolution for this year is to do a blog post every Friday so I can share what I've actually been working on!

This week I have been entirely focused on finishing up the quilting on the baby quilt:

The border hasn't been hard to quilt, and it has been fun to mindlessly stitch away while watching/listening to some favourite things on Netflix.

I've rounded the last corner now and have about three quarters of the last short border to go, so I'm about where I wanted to be at this time. I was hoping to have the quilting finished by the end of the week, and if I do really well, maybe I'll get the binding on too.

So, that is my week from a quilting perspective - I hope your week has been good too! :-)