Day 13 - The Last Day!

Sis and BIL are home! However, I'm holding off on going home until tomorrow morning so that I can time it right to visit a quilt shop. Also, so that she can harvest stuff like cucumbers in less heat (it was pretty hot by the time they got here).

So, what did I do today? I did the continuous binding for the Pirate Quilt. My sister's counter is so much easier to do the layout and cutting on, that I couldn't miss that opportunity. I wrapped it on a toilet paper roll so that it feeds out nicely when I am sewing. While visiting a blog, one blogger suggested NOT pressing the binding, but folding as you go. This is because one side needs more fabric than the other because of the 'edge'. Make sense. So, I'm going to try it.

My sister found my other sister an old Kenmore for $5 at a sale. While she took it apart, cleaned and oiled it and adjusted the settings, I worked on more HSTs. Hundreds of HST's and the box still looks pretty full, so plenty more to be sewn.

On the left are sewn, but not pressed HSTs that I made this evening. On the right are pressed and dog ear trimmed HSTs. In the center is about 12 yards of bias binding on a roll.

Day 7 - A Trip To Sortof Local Quilt Shops

Today was a change of pace. Picked up my bro and went to Brainerd to visit quilt shops. That's about 45 miles away from where I'm housesitting. You will be impressed on how much I limited my purchases, but it was hard. I still got a few things not on the list with the excuse that I could use it in this quilt or that quilt, but really, I just bought it cuz I wanted it.

So, what did I get? Well, the first 3 pieces are for the kitty cat wallhangings I'm doing. The two marbles are 1/8 inch cuts for inner borders. The polka dot is for the border of one wallhanging. Then we have the popcorn and Dr. Suess pieces. Largest is 1/2 yard, so reasonable. Didn't need them, but they will go into the quilt "My Favorite Things". The kitty cats at a scary movie - No idea what I will use that for. On the bottom is a rooflike fabric for my planned wonky house quilt. Ok.. go ahead and laugh. Get that out of your system. EVERY quilter should one day try to do at least a single house quilt block. If you don't get to it, you don't, but the thought should be there. The last 3 pieces (one doesn't show in the photo) are fat quarters from the new Stonehenge collection from Northcott fabrics. WONDERFUL stuff. I can see buying yards of this stuff for several projects, but I promise - not until I have the project planned out.


Here is my helper Huff. He keeps the chair warm if I get up. Even if all I'm doing is threading the machine and need to get up to move something. Yep. Right there, keeping it warm. He knows he's not allowed in the kitchen chairs. My sister and BIL put stuff in the chairs deliberately to keep him out of them, so that they can sit down without getting their rumps covered in fur. However, he was recovering from a thunderstorm last night, so after taking this photo, I gave him the other chair to sit in. He was much happier. When there isn't a chair for him to sit in, he scoots over and lies on my foot. Yes, the foot that is operating the sewing machine pedal. Huff excels at hampering.

Day 5 - Pirate Quilt Top Done

Yeppers, I finished it. :) I tried to get a closer photo, but had to do everything quick because of the skeeters. They love me. This is my version of what to do with a can't cut it fabric. The size is about 74x96 inches including those 2 inch borders.

Closeup of Fabrics - I bought them at Hancock Fabrics maybe 2 years ago. All 3 were part of the same line and as close to Pirates of the Caribbean as they could get without getting into trouble for licensing. It's called Doom of the Sea by Fabri-Quilt. I still have to make binding. Leftovers? Maybe a pillow? Maybe a tote bag? Knitting needle bag? Pincushion. We'll know soon.



Totally unrelated to my quilting vacation, here's your chance to see the little Vikings pincushion I made with leftovers from the Vikings/Tree quilt I made for sis and BIL a couple years back. Just a simple box pincushion. It lives here at my sister's house. :)

Ok.. so now I'm back to making HSTs. The plan is to work on Bambi quilt all tomorrow. Maybe I'll get that done before it becomes a UFO?

Disgusted with Mistake

Didn't post yesterday because I was mad at myself. This is like a beginner mistake. Didn't realize that ALL the fabrics I had for the Pirate Quilt were directional until they were sewed. So, I spent hours and hours yesterday and today taking those stitches out. I left one strip backwards because you can't tell when 5 feet away. Anyway, getting these sewn tonight, so a photo tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I'll be back to HSTs. I can't do the back of the pirate quilt because I'm missing some fabrics as well as having no light fusible, so I'll fold those up, put them away and move on to other projects. I plan to work all day on the Bambi quilt starting first thing Tuesday a.m. I have a lot of space to lay it out in the correct order, making the sewing WAY easier.

Oh, and good news! I'm going to be the owner of a Bernina 440QE in mid-September! Happy dance, happy dance. Expensive and likely the last machine I will own, but I'm thrilled. Every time I think...gosh, maybe I shouldn't have spent so much, I remind myself that Consumer Reports even considered this a best buy. Bernina is replacing this model with another one that is more than $1,000 more with features I don't really want, thus the push to get a machine. The ONLY negatives I have heard about this machine involve the embroidery module and since I'm not getting that, it's a nonproblem.

Quilting Vacation Day 1

I am on a quilting vacation that is disguised as housesitting! The goal is to try to post every single day while I am on a mission to complete my tasks. I've managed to get all my stations more or less in order: Sewing, cutting, project bags. I'll be sewing at this spot in the kitchen. While the round table is sometimes a challenge, it works well. What is especially good is that there is a bright, hanging light directly over the table making a well lit work area. Yes, I know - part of my machine is missing. Not a problem - just mislaid it at home and wasn't going to scrounge for it too long.



Today, I went for simple and am making endless half square triangles (HSTs). My 2 7/8 in square box from scraps is FULL. So, I have 2 HST projects. The first is an HST project I saw in an issue of Fons and Porter (Sept/Oct 2011 edition) that I just received the other day. I will give more info on that as I progress. I actually stopped at a quilt store on the way here to get the black fabric I needed. In addition, I'm making a Lady of the Lake quilt. I could not decide on the fabrics to use for the large blocks, but it needs a LOT of HSTs.



No quilting holiday is complete without quilting helpers. I have 3. They are Spitty, Huff and Ptolemy. Spitty (beautiful , but very shy girl cat) has stayed out of the way, but the boys have been helping. Ptolemy lays in the middle of the floor forcing one to walk around him (cat hampering technique), and Huff sleeps on my foot pedal (supervision, apparently).