Sewing Weekend

Last weekend was a rare treat: a weekend at Mom's dedicated to sewing, with no major "have-to-do" projects other than what I wanted to work on!  I had three specific goals, but of course had enough fabric with me to keep me busy 14 hours a day for a week or more.

Goal #1 was easy - put the binding on the front of the third (and final) orange and green quilt.  Got it done Friday night; while I have enjoyed these fun and bright fabrics, it feels good to call this particular set done!

I had taken several partially finished projects, thinking I would have more time than my three goals and wanting to come up with a plan for some of the different projects.  This was one: it was going to be a gift baby quilt for a good friend, but I just wasn't happy with the accuracy of the top so ended up making something else.  This top was done except for the top and bottom borders; I added them and put it in the pile to tie for donation.  I had planned for Sis to tie this, but we ran into an interesting dilemma - I see the quilt from the construction standpoint, so I see a grid to it that would work well for tying.  But she sees the chains of links running across blocks (which is the look I was going for), so the tying spots weren't intuitive.  Since we have plenty of other quilts in the queue to tie, I brought this one home to machine quilt.

Apparently green with polka dots was a theme for the weekend!

I had to add a strip into the backing as it wasn't quite wide enough.  I generally don't piece backs for the sake of them being pieced, but as I try to use up fabrics, I will probably need to get creative to use what I have!

Planned project #2 was to cut the first two months' of blocks for this mystery quilt that Sis got Mom for Christmas.  Sis picked out all the fabrics (and that was no small challenge - it needs a LOT of different fabrics and in some cases, several of unusual colorways like green-gray).  Each month, Mom gets a chapter of the book along with directions to make one block.  Mom asked me to help with the cutting, so I got the first two blocks ready for her.

It's fun to speculate on where this is going - so far, we know the book takes place mainly in Egypt, and think we see something that looks like a pyramid.

Detour #2 was to cut some fabric for ditty bags that Mom will make for a group at her church.  Her church will fill the bags with personal items for folks who do not have a place to call home at the moment.  It was nice to be able to use a few different fabrics and hope it will provide a small bright spot for the recipients.

Sis came over to work on tying for a while, and tied this bulldozer quilt.  I had made either two or three from these fabrics, but this one got separate from the rest and waited a long time for its turn to be tied.  It is a little smaller than some of the other quilts we've been working on recently, and I think it felt good to finish this one in an afternoon.  It came home with me to have the binding put on.

Mom's project for the weekend was cutting fabrics for a Cathedral Windows wall-hanging she wants to make.  These are 2" squares.  She wants to use jewel tones, and had fabrics that a friend loaned her to cut squares from.  After lots of rearranging and moving fabrics in and out, all three of us liked this combination, though not necessarily this layout.

Project #3 was to actually work on a quilt FOR ME.  I'd gotten this quilt that I call Filmstrip into 5 main sections plus several strips, and that was pretty much the last thing I worked on before life went sideways.  I ADORE these colors and fabrics, and want to put this in my living room.  The goal was to have it ready to be quilted.  One issue - it is supposed to have two borders, but I don't have enough of any of the fabrics to make the inner border, don't want it to be pieced, and couldn't find any of the ones that I would like for a border still online.  We laid it out with a substitute fabric and I definitely like it better with the borders, but I don't want this to never get done.  Mom and Sis both think it is good the way it is, and if I don't come up with a plan soon, will just go with it the way it is.

It was a lovely weekend with people who are special to me and felt like I got a lot accomplished - what more could I ask?!?!