Week 3's goals were:
Monday - Write this post, log this week's goals, and mend a button - Done
Tuesday - Assemble the bottom half of DD's Swimming Leopards - Done
Wednesday - pass exam 1! - Got a 98!
Thursday - Sew 6 long seams on Lightning - Done
Friday - Sew 6 long seams on Lightning - Done
Saturday - Cut borders for Swimming Leopards - Got held up because the fabric needed to be washed first; it is now waiting to be ironed
Sunday - Prep back and binding for Lightning, log in To Tie file - Done
Handwork: Mark black hexagons, finish adding first five stars to the main piece - Done
Week 3 was quite productive! Lightning is finished and is logged and ready to tie:
This top was designed by D with fabrics she picked out. It is named for the dark blue zigzag down the center, which she says reminds her of lightning.
The main part of the Swimming Leopards quilt is done:
This quilt will have leopard print minky on the back, and we agreed it is like leopards swimming under the waves on the front. As a surprise for D, I added two little sets of leopard print triangles poking up from under the waves - they are supposed to be the loepards' ears! Just needs two rounds of plain borders, and then off it goes to be quilted (no way am I trying to quilt with the minky on my domestic machine - nope, not gonna happen!).
That button to be mended on Monday? Has been sitting on my sewing machine for 5 months; took less than 5 minutes to fix!
My exam on Wednesday went well, though it was long - it took me about 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete, and I was the first one done! Another person finished within a few minutes of me, so we compared notes in the hallway afterwards. I'm feeling pretty good about that one!
I worked on hand-piecing the hexagons, and got the first five stars completely attached, but didn't get any new pictures.
And I finished a bonus project:
This is a line of fabric I had purchased several years ago, and I think originally planned to make some D9P tops with. I have lost most of my interest in doing true D9P after I had some issues with my initial 9-patches not being perfect sizes, so the cut pieces weren't fitting together well. If I make any more, particularly since mine don't use scraps, I will rework the plan to just make the quarter sections directly - it would be slightly longer to sew, but way more accurate. In the meantime, I came up with a new plan a year or two ago to make some pseudo-bargello tops: the effect of the line going up and down, and the strip piecing technique, but no variation in the width of the strips. I had one done, and this was about halfway sewn into columns. I've pulled this whole bundle of fabric out to be used up, so the first thing was to finish this top. I got a bunch of extra sewing time during the week, and got it finished! Now I just need to decide which backing and binding to put it with and it will be put away for tying. I know many of the designs I work on are very simple, but quilts based on 4"-5" squares are great for tying, so I try to have several ready for our annual Project Linus workday. And since these will be given to people who mostly don't understand the work that goes into making a quilt, I like to come up with patterns that are not too labor intensive to assemble.
I originally wrote some goals for Week 4, which was a very surreal week. DH and Son were gone for the week on a Boy Scout camping trip to West Virginia (they had a great time, and brought home the dirty laundry to prove it!). So D and I went on a little trip ourselves - we made the "pilgrimage" to that mecca of all things American Girl: Chicago. She has two dolls that she saved for and purchased herself, but had never been to an actual store. We had a pretty good trip overall despite a lot of walking in weather that was too hot and muggy for our tastes. I thought when we got home I'd get a lot of sewing done, but instead we did a lot of cleaning and purging on top of other regularly scheduled activities. It felt so good to get her room and my room thoroughly cleaned out and cleaned, and we went through ALL the books in the house and made a fairly substantial donation to the library. Overall, I feel a little lighter, and more motivated to work on cleaning out some projects in the sewing room, too! The one issue is that things designated to be given away to various locations tend to accrue in the sewing room, so I feel like I'm walking through a gauntlet to get in there right now!
In that vein, we did wash about twenty yards of flannel that I am hoping to use for some blankies - those are quick to make and used by my local Project Linus, and would definitely free up some space!
So absolutely nothing to report for Week 4. On to Week 5, though, with thoughts of getting more things finished and off to be loved:
Monday: Write Post and Goals
Tuesday: Bundle Pseudo-Bargello Floral top with back and binding, log for tying
Wednesday: Class Night - no sewing time
Thursday: Iron the Tulip top
Friday: Take Tulip top to quilter
Saturday: Hand-piece 1 star
Sunday: Cut borders for Leopards
Bonus if time allows: cut lengths for flannel blankies
I like having little 15 minute chunks of stuff, and a focus - but every time I sit down and try to limit myself to 6 items, I struggle because there are about a hundred that I'd like to get done!
No comments:
Post a Comment