I had a busy week in the sewing room. I told you all last week after my “Sew with Jo” while I was working on the quilt in the photo below, I gave up my plan to sew on one row a week and just tackled the quilt. You can read about that HERE if you missed it.
Well from there I spent the next morning putting on the red inner border. That day over naptime I pinned on the pieced border and that night I sewed it on.
The original quilt had one more red border on it, but I decided to skip it. The quilt is big already and it’s hard for me to machine quilt any quilt that is about 100″ and this one is pushing that.
The quilt is a mystery, Old World Fantasy, from Quilted Twins.
Tuesday we woke to snow. At about 6 am I got a message from a childcare mom. Big sister was throwing up. Did I want the baby? Um…No. That meant I had a snow day and wouldn’t have childcare until the afternoon bus dropped the kids off. YAHOO!!
Well then school was two hours late as the snow was bad enough to warrant it, so I had my two big kids in the morning until 9:50 am as the school had a two-hour delay. Then I had the day to myself until 3:30 pm. I decided to make the most of it.
I debated a lot about what to work on. The Halloween quilt needs attention but I was sure I could do that over the weekend. This was a free day. It was an unexpected time. Surely I could finish quilting the mystery quilt.
I made a backing for the mystery quilt and loaded it on the frame. My thought was that I could get it finished but I had a lot of interruptions. Kayla called. She had a no school day. She is a health teacher at a school about two hours from here and the snow was worse that way. Kelli called…Kalissa called…it wasn’t a day to get as much done as I anticipated. That’s totally okay. Being mom and grandma is more important. This quilt top was MUCH further along than I ever thought it would be at this time last week.
Then about an hour before the bus came I decided to stop the quilting machine and get the backing together for the Halloween quilt. I thought that would make me feel better about not working on the Halloween quilt.
I was careful and tried my best to match the print when I sewed the pieces together. It took a little longer but I think it was totally worth it. Close up you can see where the splice is but further away I don’t think you can. It was actually a fairly easy print to match.
Saturday I finished up the machine quilting on the mystery quilt and bound it.
Sunday was my day to tackle the Halloween quilt. I have loaded it on the frame on Saturday. I picked my quilting motif, loaded my bobbins, and did one pass. I left it determined to tackle in on Sunday…and…
I did!!
Rosie was pretty bored with it all…
But was MUCH happier once I got it finished.
I stuck with it and powered through even finishing the binding. This will be headed to American Patchwork and Quilting in Monday’s mail. YAHOO!!
So that was a big week for me to finish two quilts. I’m so happy both are done.
In between it all I did manage a little time at the machine. My Spider Web string blocks are now in rows.
I’ll take the rows downstairs and pin them over nap time. Then I’ll sew them together in my morning sewing sessions. It’s getting time for me to pick another UFO to start working on. I don’t always follow the suggestion from Mary at Country Threads with the Dirty Dozen challenge. I told you earlier that I had just gone off the plan and finished quilts that could be done quickly first. I’m getting to the point that many can’t be finished quickly anymore.
In other news this week, I kept up with my cutting up shirt challenge. You can read about that HERE if you missed it. I actually did much better than I needed to do. I did a whole garbage bag of quilts and I only “needed” to do seven to keep up for the week.
I started out with four bags…I’m down to one bag now. I thinking about powering through and doing the whole bag this week. I will do my seven for sure…that’s all I plan…but it sure would be nice to be completely done with them.
You will notice that many of the shirts are blue and yellow. I have specifically collected those two colors. I have a quilt planned with them. After seeing them all stacked I got to thinking that maybe I’ll use some of these for a baby quilt for Kelli. They aren’t finding out the gender of the babies so it’s hard to know what to make. She does want a crumb quilt with letters…So I was thinking about starting one with dark blue letters…then do yellow, white and light blue with it. I know that boyish but, I was thinking I could get a bunch of blocks made but not put them into a quilt until the babies are born. If she has a girl, I could quickly whip up some pink blocks and mix them in with the yellow and blue. I think that might be okay. Anyway…I thought I would let you all know that I plan to start crumb quilting soon and making the letters. These baby quilts are moving up on the to-do list.
Did you see that I finished my Holy Toledo quilt?? I told you about that on Friday…HERE is the link if you missed that. Oh my, I love that quilt. I originally thought I’d gift it…but, we’ll see. I do love it!!
This was a big week for new videos. Kalissa was out of quarantine and could edit ones I had previously filmed and then I filmed more. So here are some you can check out.
How I cut up Shirts with a Rotary Cutter
How I make Half Square Triangles
Sew With Jo #6
Hook and Feather Quilting Motif
How I Cut Square so Fast
I have another for her to edit so watch for that coming later in the week. With that, I’m off. I’ll be sewing on the Christmas deadline quilt next. It’s always something…and that’s okay. Now if I could have another super productive week like last week, that would be AWESOME!!
Seeing all the red fabrics in your Spider Web quilt can I ask you:
Do you wash your red fabrics before use in case they bleed when the finished quilt is washed?
Thanks.
I don’t wash my fabric. I’ve never had a problem. I know many people do wash their red fabrics though.
Thanks for your reply. I don’t usually wash fabrics either but if I think a piece of red fabric may not be colourfast I soak it in a bowl of cool water with a colour catcher. I did this recently and was amazed how much red colouring was on the colour catcher!
I’m so impressed with your joy and all that you accomplish ALL the time. I’m inspired by your body of work.
I look forward to seeing a whole picture of your finished Old World Fantasy mystery quilt. You sure do accomplish a lot.
The quilts you finished are beautiful. You have really gotten a stack of shirts done. What a good feeling you must have for so many completions of steps. My thoughts on baby quilts, etc. is that girls can use blue, but boys can’t use pink. I am old fashioned in that way. It will be fun to see if Kelli gets one of each or both same sex. Waiting, waiting…
Wow! What a busy lady you’ve been! I can imagine giving away yourHoly Toledo quilt! Have a wonderful week!
Busy and very productive, Jo!! Hoping you will make a video and tutorial on making letters…you mentioned that some time ago and I’ve had my fingers crossed since. Kelli and Jason’s twins and quilts might make this come to be, right!! Stay safe, healthy and moving forward!
Rachel… your last name, is it a married name? Mine is similar. Summey. I rarely see it, only family. I was happy to see it. I too am a quilter and just got my mid-arm. I too have a stack of UFO’s and a charity and baby quilts raready to finish.
Jo, you have been powering on! You never waste a minute. I’m sure you have heard that saying “busy hands make quick work”. Of course you are always planning ahead. And then, following thru. I’m so impressed. I love the Holy Toledo and your Halloween quilt too.
How fun to get so much done, all really great looking quilts. Good job!!
where did you score all those beautiful shirts? My hubbie is retired and no longer wears that type of shirt (he has moved to sweatshirts and tees!!) So I have cut up his old plaid pj’s and got a few strips–I am waiting for his new ones to wear out hahaha..
Holy Toledo is gorgeous…so beautiful in those plaids…
Nice work hugs, Julierose
I love your shirt quilt. Think I will begin collecting shirts to make one also. Have Bonnie’s book on order. What camera and recording setup do you use? I want to make some how-to videos for my local guild since we can’t meet in person now. Thanks for inviting us into your life twice daily. I feel like we are neighbors.
Both of those quilts are fantastic!! Way to power through your week, Jo! I’m glad that you were able to take out a UFO along the way. SEW looking forward to the finished photos!
The picture of Rosie with the Halloween Quilt is worthy of a frame! You should include this picture when you submit the quilt to the magazine. It’s perfect! Of course I’m a bit prejudiced — I’m the one who is in love with the dog I’ve never met!
Love your blog. Since your video I have been cutting up my shirts that I have collected. But I was wondering how you go about tackling the job of cutting up the shirts when you are starting a quilt. Do you cut off a few strips of each shirt that you want to use in the quilt?
I watched your video about cutting up shirts. I too have been using old shirts for quilts but my storage as not been as tidy. I love how you make up a bundle out of the salvaged pieces. I have adopted this method. thank you~
Thank you for your daily posts..you are the light of morning. Love the Holy Toledo quilt…it’s on the must do list….keep up the fantastic work.
Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your videos. I don’t really have anyone to sew with and it feels like I am sewing with a friend when I watch while I sew. You do a great job on them!
Good job Jo.! I have to say I haven’t done a single shirt since I told you I would join you. I haven’t given up though—I’ll get to it!
wow Jo, so impressed by your stamina and “power through” abilities. i just wonder when do you get your housework done and sleep?, lol. You are an inspiration!
Hi Jo,
A while back I thought you said you were making a quilt for moda with their new Cider line. It’s finally in. Are you giving us a peek?
I will be telling you about the quilt on Tuesday of next week. I can’t show anything until then as it will be published with American Patchwork and Quilting in the April issue which will hit newsstands on the 8th. If you are a subscriber, you should be getting your magazine soon.
Congrats on your very productive week. I have three partially put together quilts and haven’t mustered up the ambition to buckle down & get them together.
I know I wouldn’t be able to part with the Holy Toledo quilt. It would go right on my bed.