What I’m Working On…

I told you I have another deadline quilt.  It’s a Christmas one.  This one is due March 15th.  I’m doing pretty good with this.

It’s involved a little bit more organization than I typically like to do. 
I’m terrible at organizing.  I can’t tell you how thankful I’ve been to have my island in my sewing room.  It was totally worth the money, headache, and wait to get it!  I have used it so much.

As for the quilt…here is your peek…

I was unhappy with the center black fabric…it’s too bright.

So I ripped that out and added a different fabric.

I ordered fabric from Moda for the background and ended up thinking that was the wrong choice once it came so I am switching fabrics.  It’s hard to design sometimes and simply guess what you think might like without holding the actual piece together.  Thankfully I had a fabric here that was better.  My goal is to have this finished and out the door by next week.

I had time Saturday and Sunday to concentrate on it.  I should meet my goal as the top is finished and the machine quilting is done.  All I have left is to put on the binding.  I’m so happy to have this one on the last stretch and will soon be out the door.

I have another deadline right behind this one.  The next quilt isn’t one I can quickly sew together as the last two have been.  It’s more piecing and a little bit of tweaking needed to get it to all come together as I am imagining it.

I spent some time working on the block in the mornings this week.  I tackled one part easily…The other part, not so easy.  It is all part of the process of quilting and making a block that is new to me.  Being a designer, it’s sometimes a bit of a task to figure out the best way to construct a block.  This is one of “those” blocks.  It isn’t a block you can look at and immediately know how to make.  So, a few early morning trial and error sessions were on tap for me.  I’m happy to say that the block is a go now.  I feel super comfortable with the construction now.  I already know now that I will be doing a video on the block construction once the magazine features the design…so next spring about this time is when I’m guessing that quilt be revealed.

I did get a little a few pieces for the spring quilt sewn together.  This made me smile…

See that piece on the right?  That’s a fabric that was in our son Buck’s graduation quilt.  Buck turned 31 last week.  I find a scrap of it periodically and put it in quilts that need some red.  This must be getting close to the last piece of it that I have.

Finding familiar scraps is one of the many reasons I love making scrap quilts.  This project is pretty much on hold until I get fabric in.  It was supposed to here Friday but then got a shipping update and the package is stalled.  I’m hoping it comes early in the week so I can get the quilt cut out and ready to sew over the weekend.  It’s going to take a good amount of piecing so I need to stay at this one.

So what else was I working on??

SHIRTS…
I was trying to get two quilts cut out.  It’s a slow process as I only get a half-hour or so each day.  I’ve had several people ask if I would do a video about what I do and how I use the “fabric” of the shirt once it’s cut up.  I will…but that will probably happen a bit later.  I really have to turn all of my attention to the spring quilt once the fabric gets here.

I did get the Sugar Bowl quilt cut out.  This quilt is on my UFO Dirty Dozen list.  This quilt was partially cut out.  I’d say about 1/3 cut out.  I did the rest this week.  YAHOO!!

As I was cutting I also cut out a big stack of 6 1/2″ squares.  These are going to be a quilt for Karl.  I’ll be sewing these leader and ender style.
Ever since Karl was little I’ve made him simple block quilts periodically.  He had a dinosaur one, a Harry Potter one, and a musical instrument one.  Back then I tied quilts so all of those quilts are all in pieces and Karl told me he needed a new one.  Karl newer asks for anything so I figured I better make one.  It will be perfect for his new house so that’s on my list to do.

Of course my Oregon or Bust quilt that I really wanted to get cut out, isn’t cut out yet.  That’s okay.  I’m hoping I can do a little of that this week.

As I cut out shirts, I ended up with many extra cuts so all of the pieces were cut and were put into my scrap users system.  I used Bonnie Hunter’s method of saving scraps.  This is my set of totes for leftover shirt fabric.

I also put Georgia’s doll quilt on the quilt frame and got that machine quilted.  YAHOO!!  It will be done in time for her birthday.  This little quilt is so stinking cute!!

I did get it bound too and happily, I was able to film a binding video.  I’m hoping Kalissa will get time this week to edit it.  I’ll share the finished quilt with you then.

So this week I cut out two quilts.  I moved my Christmas quilt from a start to, a top, to machine quilted.  I did some design work on the spring quilt.  I finished Georgia’s doll quilt and I cut out two quilts.  I’m happy with that progress.

This week my goal is to get the Christmas quilt bound and sent out and to get the spring quilt blocks together.  The spring quilt is due March 15th so, I really do need to keep trucking along on that.  With any luck, I think I can do it.