July NewFO

One last Sunday post and I'm somewhat caught up on my necessary posts, those where I link up to other sites.  This one is linking up to Cat Patches for the NewFO Challenge.

As I went to quilt camp in July, I was able to get sewing on more than one NewFO.  I'm not giving consideration that I actually cut the fabrics in June.  That was rather necessary given that I was leaving for the wet land on 3 July and quilt camp started on the 10th, and that I'd be taking all my sewing gear as well as suitcases and other paraphernalia needed by myself and Nick, all in one little ol' vehicle.  

Before I show my projects, I have to tell about something I found funny.  I was being very stringent with the amount of stuff I wanted to take to camp: sewing machine, SewEzi table, folding cart, 2 project bins (9x14x7), a bin of supplies, laptop, personal clothing, etc.  The day arrived to go to my aunt's and pick her up, I walked into the house, saw her pile of stuff which was quite substantial I thought until she showed me even more stuff that was going with us.  I think she recognized my surprise at the amount of 'stuff' because she said I would be even more amazed at the amount of stuff some of the others bring!  It was truly a learning experience.  My stuff was sufficient, perhaps more than sufficient!  But all of the stuff filled my Highlander to the gills leaving very little room to see through the rear-view mirror, and that with the seats folded down!

Now to July's NewFO projects:

Bow Tie blocks.  I started these as leaders / enders but am excited about them and will likely do them more quickly.  

These are the current remaining "T" sets from my main project: Tesselating Ts.  As I only need 13 more sets to finish the last row, I apparently over-planned or maybe thought I'd make it bigger, or make two...I really don't remember my original plan, but ended up following the pattern.

These will at some point become a third quilt.  These are the bonus half-square triangle squares made from the intersecting light/dark "Ts" that otherwise would have gone to the trash bin.  As you can see, once trimmed, I can easily get a 1 3/4" square from each piece set...and they're already sewn on that bias, and that's the best part!

And at last, the main July NewFO project.  Since I don't have my regular design wall, these are taped to my dining room wall.  Some of the rows may be switched around, and four rows were sewn together at camp for benefit of show & share, one of which I've already removed and I'm thinking I'll separate the other three in order to get a better placement.  It still needs one more row to have all required rows done.

Sleep Deprived?

Well, I don't know if I'm sleep deprived or just getting old and forgetful, or that I've just been trying to work on too many projects all at the same time. 

For the last couple days I've been putting away fabric that I'd pulled out for a project I'm going to start at quilt camp, having cut out all that I needed.  I have another project I was thinking of taking too and had cut it out awhile back, but then when I looked at it the other day I started thinking I needed to still cut the background fabric, and in the bin found only a small string of that background fabric, so I went on the hunt for it.  Mind you, all my fabric was all put away at this point and re-organize nice, neat, & tidy, but I couldn't find that 2 yard piece of black fabric anywhere. And I had only a vague recollection of at least thinking I used in something, but in what? I checked all my UFO kits - nothing! I even checked in the laundry room!  I finally gave up and decided I'd choose something else from my stash for the background and pulled out a 3 yard piece of a Debbie Mumm/South Seas Imports butternut (?) crackled print, not what I wanted but interesting still for this scrappy project.

I then looked in my bin of previously cut & kitted pieces for this project and realized, doh!, I had already cut all of the 2" squares I needed and had set them together with each set but they were on the bottoms of each set and I didn't see them (these are bow ties).  Yikes! And that's where the 2 yard piece of black went!

In the meantime however, I had already cut off 1 yard from the Mumm fabric, starched it and cut it into 2" wide strips and had cut a couple of those strips into 2" squares before having looked in the bin.  So, what does one do at that point?  One stops cutting, and takes those squares and aligns those strips and rolls it all up jelly roll fashion to await a future project requiring 2" squares or strips.

And you tie it off with a thin strip of the same fabric along with a postable note so that you don't forget what it was all about.  And since it's been starched (the cut parts) I'll put it in a zippered bag, because I know starch draws bugs, and I know this house with it's old carpet, has bugs, but then I wonder, why bother, we starch clothes and I don't seal the quilts-in-progress in bags and have never seen bugs in my fabric or the quilt boxes.  I'm a proponent of using things like moth balls and Cedar Magic, and have lined the floor of my stash closet with cedar closet strips, yep, used it as flooring figuring by keeping it raw my shoes would scuff it enough to keep from having to occasionally rough it up with sand paper :)  

That's today's quilting adventure. In other news:

Nick wanted to take golf camp again this year, we missed last year, so he gets to go for three days because we were late getting around to registering him, and because 5 days is just way too expensive.  I hope he makes it.  After day one, and with temps today in the mid-90s and going even hotter over the next couple days, he came home with very painful wrists, so I have him soaking his wrists in Epsom salts, and will have him resume taking his Voltaren.  I hope he grows out of this wrist pain, but frankly, I think it's from too much computer gaming time.  Piano doesn't bother him much.  As skinny as he is, he's not been an athletically active child and doesn't do any ongoing physical labor and what's an only child to do, so I imagine that all plays part in his wrist problems.  The doctor has considered he may need cortisone injections, ugh.  I think he'd like to do golf more frequently, but it's very expensive, as is really any activity he might be interested in.  I think he'd be really good with swimming, but again, expensive because we have no pool of our own. 

I suppose I have a better appreciation for my parents having always said 'no' to our activity requests when I was a child seeing that there were five of us and far less money than Marty & I even have available...we were flat out dirt poor to the point of receiving government cheese for a time.  But living on the ranch (care-takers), we did have pasture for horses and that provided an activity for us, along with the hard work that was needed on the ranch feeding cattle, tending garden, fencing, working in the fields to get money for school clothes.  The 50s and 60s were a different time.

Stash Report Week 14: 07 April 2013

Whoa ! Where'd the week go?  This was Easter vacation from school week for Nick.  So Marty took two days off work and took Nick and his best friend Tino up to the mountains for an overnight for snow-boarding.  They left the house at 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday and got back around 10:00 p.m. on Thursday.  Joining them for this trip was his other friend, Jay and his dad but they went in a separate vehicle.  Two adult men and three teenagers plus all their gear and snowboards just won't fit in one vehicle and it's about a 4.5 hour drive each way.  They had a fine time, and no injuries - praise God for that!

I didn't do a whole lot differently while they were gone.  A few chores, played with the cats, and played with a lot of fabric, fixed a roast in the crockpot, and got caught up on Doctor Who episodes.

There were no changes to my stash report.  Nothing in, nothing out which means nothing finished.   (My stash is not counted as out until a quilt is finished.)  Linking up at Patchwork Times.
Used This Week: 0 yards
Used Year to Date: 0 yards
Added This Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 14.625 yards
Net Used for 2013: -14.625 yards 

I finished the piecing on the O Christmas Tree quilt.  It took 2.5 hours to remove all the paper, and even though paper piecing is said to be more accurate, I seem to have a few spots where things are a little wonky - not bad wonky, but still - wonky!  I'm sure most of that can be quilted out when I get to that point.  It will have to wait as I don't have any available pins for basting!  I would still like to have it finished to display by Christmas, so that means I have to get something else quilted!

Over all, I'm very pleased with it, and I'm very appreciative of all the kind comments about it on my last post.

I also worked on specific cutting of fabric in my scrap bins.  Bonnie Hunter had a leader/ender project a year or two ago using bow tie blocks so I thought I'd alternate that with my spool leader/enders.  Not in the same quilt mind you, but as a change of pace.  While doing the Tree quilt, I managed to make quite a few spools, but realize I will need a lot of them for even a lap-size quilt; same with the bow ties.  I'm trying to decide what color I want to use as a background for the bow ties - I don't want to use cheddar, as B.H. did.  Maybe black, or a dark blue which only means that some of my darker bow ties will not be used, but they can go into one with a lighter background.

There are approximately 540 matched sets in this plastic tub.  I still have to choose a background and cut it though.  I have a few more strips on my table to cut as well so will probably end up with over 600.  I'm sure that's more than enough for a single quilt, so maybe two or more depending on the size I make.

I also kitted a patriotic colored log cabin quilt, logs all cut and ready! I've done this one before for a military family at church and really liked it so want one now for myself.   Now I have plenty to start sewing on, but have reached that point of indecision/overwhelmedness as to what exactly I want to start with.  You'll notice I haven't added my April "Get It Done" goals, and I had nothing listed for March! (see tab at the top of the blog).  I have lots to finish, so need to work on a lot of those projects.

Have a blessed week....it may take me that long to get another post posted, lol.