May review and June goals

I am very aware I have gone somewhat AWOL. Things have been a little wild here (not in a good way) the last couple weeks. I am sure I will do a post once I feel on firmer ground. The upshot is that no sewing has gone on. But here are my goals for the month:

 

May goals:

Sewing-

1. Finish ribbon chevron top – border. Back? no.. sigh…
2. Complete Ispy tops and backs for nephews. (finish tumbler quilt – back, quilt, bind; make second top) Finished one completely, did not start the other. Need to get cracking on that
3. Bento Box back (no ideas on this) Nope, and still don’t know what to do with it. Any ideas?
4. finish bloom bloom pow. (top, back, quilt and bind) Finished the top. Started the back.
5. Finish cleaning and reorganizing sewing room It’s such a mess…
6. May mystery border Had to notify them this will be late. It is a pretty block though.
7. Pick off a few things for the city craft pinterest challenge  No.

Swaps –

• waiting on abc blocks
• waiting on tula pink rounds 3,4,5
• send back Lizzy House jewels
• send back jar i spy
• open May f8 swap

Cleaning-

1. Get the baby’s swingset installed!!! This plays a small part in the drama. We may be tackling it next weekend or may just hire someone depending on how various things play out…
2. Closet OH! I did start on this. I can actually see my floor now, and put away my winter clothes, but didn’t touch anything otherwise.
3. Hang photos Same as it ever was….

• Weight loss Well, Once I got home from the beach I started on My Fitness Pal, which is what my husband has been using to lose 30 pounds the last 5 months. I am mad watching him shrink away and nothing for me. It’s like that one commercial. So I joined and have been counting calories and tracking food and so far have lost 2 pounds (in less than a week). I hope to stick with it and continue to see progress.
• Baby’s birthday party planning This has been such a nightmare. But it seems to be happening Sunday.
• I have a lot of dr appts to make. I was actually going to do this today. And I really need to. We have 90 days to get these appointments in. (There’s a spoiler for you)
• Read read read!

Here is the thing with going to the beach. I watch very little tv, I do almost no cleaning, so that leaves tons of time for sitting on the deck, listening to the water and birds (and construction lately) and read:

 

 

June goals:

Sewing-

1. Finish ribbon chevron top – border. Back?
2. Complete 2nd Ispy
3. Bento Box back (no ideas on this)
4. finish bloom bloom pow. (back, quilt and bind)
5. baste and quilt twisted ispy
6. Finish cleaning and reorganizing sewing room
7. May mystery border
8. June mystery border
9. Pick off a few things for the city craft pinterest challenge

Swaps –

• 2.5 square swap
• waiting on tula pink rounds 6,7
• jelly roll swap
• send back konas
• send back text swap
• open June f8 swap

Cleaning-

1. Get the baby’s swingset installed!!!
2. Closet
3. go through baby’s toys
4. guest bedroom
5. garage
6. laundry room
7. Hang photos

• Weight loss
• update Baby’s baby book
• I have a lot of dr appts to make.
• investigate HTF to fly with a two year old
• get our house and life back in order
• Read read read!

 

Wip Wednesday

It has taken me the entire day to get this post finished. I finished my tumbler quilt late last night. Confession: This is my first completed quilt of any substantial size. I have done small quilts, and quilted other items (bags and stuff) in the past, but not a full quilt.

Doing the finishing touches has allowed me to appreciate how far I have come with piecing. The difficulties, challenges and mistakes of quilting and binding make me feel like a fraud in a way that piecing hasn’t for some time. I guess there is truth in the benefits of practice. I just need to practice more finishing I guess to get more comfortable.

A look at the quilting

With that said, I am still relatively pleased. This is to be a gift for my 7 year old nephew who will become a big brother this summer. When I get back home I will be kicking butt to make the baby’s as well, and then send them off. The finished quilt is approx. 45×66. I made it from 6.5″ charms from my “boys only” Ispy swap group, along with a few from other swaps from the same group. I quilted it with straight lines on either side of each seam using my walking foot on my machine.

more closeups

oopsie when quilting. I sewed the excess back into the quilt line.

quilting

Errors in the back

This is my biggest problem I think. When I quilted the straight line seams, I caught ripples in the back. I did rip some out and redo them, but it kept happening. I finally gave up and left it. When I did the zig zag lines, I was very mindful and careful, and I think I only caught one ripple in all of those. It isn’t glaringly obvious in the finished quilt, but is noticeable.

I chose to bind in the same fabric as the back. Initially, I wasn’t sure I would even bind it while I am here, or if I would have enough backing fabric to do so. I had just enough, and decided the top and back were each busy enough that continuing the backing fabric into the binding made the most sense.

I had a bit of a mishap sewing on the binding. It was all going well til I found I didn’t catch both sides in the seam in one part. Had to fix that.

I did machine binding following this tutorial, which I have used in the past. My seam is a bit meandering, and you can see above the one place I did catch the top binding.

This is the one spot in the back that I missed.

But at least my corners look good!

I spent the day out side with my family today. Unsure where I will go from here. I think possibly my BBP backing, but I am making some decisions about the top (which was featured on freshly pieced!)  and may just take a couple days off. I still can’t stomach the ribbon border for some reason. =D

Linking to…

WIP Wednesday

This Wednesday has kind of snuck up on me. I have been really productive this week though. Without having other distractions I have really been able to focus on sewing. I have also been very motivated. It feels good to have things getting completed.

First, I finished by BBP top:

Laying out blocks

This is another one, like my son’s twisted block top, that I did not plan ahead at all, and everything just sort of came together perfectly. I was able to space colors more or less the way I wanted to. I hate when two of the same colors touch. I had a little more trouble spacing patterns, because there are no two blocks alike, and so either the main pattern or the bg pattern was going to be near another of the same. I also paid some attention to value placement, but that was secondary to color to me.

I only had to rip one block when putting individual blocks together, so I think that is real progress! When putting rows together, I had an entire row that I had to rip and redo, because I had put it together backwards. Still, didn’t take too long and not too bad.

Finished top

It’s been really windy so I had a horrible time getting a good picture, but hopefully this gives you an idea. I am really pleased with it. I guess I will start on the back after I finish the next thing I am working on:

Basting

I am finally quilting something! This is the tumbler top I am making for my nephew for his big brother gift. I basted it last night and started quilting it. Basting was slightly challenging. I think I will do the binder clip method in the future when I am home. I taped it to the tile floor, and the tape kept coming up. Especially on the upper layers. It basted really quickly though, while I was watching Dance Moms. But it did a job on my back.

Quilting

This is its current state right now. You can see the back here too. I wanted something quick and easy, so it is just straight yardage. No piecing on this one. I started quilting it last night. Quilting was challenging, but I think I am getting the hang of it. I am just doing straight line quilting with my walking foot. I was definitely tinkering with my tension for the first few rows. I think I have that straight now. It is strange because the thread at the top of the machine is really loose, but the stitch looks good. I don’t have the terminology to explain that clearer. The other problem I was having was that it would occasionally not move evenly, and I would get really really short stitches. I think I have figured out that it was catching on something, but I am not sure what. I think either the foot lift lever or the front edge of the machine. I am being really mindful of keeping everything clear and it is moving better now. It is all a learning process. I think it will go a lot easier when I am home on my table, once I have my table insert (need to order!). Everything will be level and move more smoothly.

My house drama gets worse. I am told the painting looks fabulous. However, the extermination report was… not great. Not as bad as it could be though. The wires and ventilation are fine. And costs another fortune. This is such a mess. It is going to take a long time to recover from this. And there are even some less urgent things that we are going to put off doing because we just… can’t. Now my husband tells me he hears dripping. I think he is just being anxious in an empty house for so long. I hope.

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WIP Wednesday

So I am currently in Florida with my parents and the baby.

My view 😀

Initially, I didn’t think I was going to be able to bring my machine with me, and I wasn’t sure I’d have time to sew if I did. But I managed to be very selective in the projects I brought and fit the machine and a duffel of fabric in the car. I’ve been sewing at night after the baby goes to bed and today it is raining so I should be able to get some time in. Here is what I brought:

• Bento top to be bordered
• Tumbler top and backing – to make the back, and baste and quilt it.
• Ribbon top to be bordered
• Ribbon back to be made
• Bloom bloom pow top and back
• scraps

I decided to start with my bento top since I thought that would be the quickest and easiest to cross off the list. Even so, it was not without its challenges. Mostly because of my stupidity.

Strip piecing the border

Holes in the sashing. Ripped that out and replaced it.

Sewed sashing on upside down. Ripped that out and fixed it.

finished top!

And, of course, the errors:

These are the sort of things that will drive me insane. But I guess not enough to rip out everything I have done and fix them. Oh well. I am not sure the corner one could have been avoided, but maybe if I had been paying more attention and tried. The double white was from sewing two strips end to end and I didn’t pay attention.

The other one I have been working on is my bloom bloom pow QAL. After checking many stores for a 60 degree triangle, I finally just ordered online and had it sent to me here. It arrived yesterday. I don’t know why they are so difficult to find. I started cutting my triangles while watching tv last night. I got about halfway through. I am going to get back to work on it once I am done here.

I have also made some tough decisions. My 3×6 bee started a new quarter today. I did not sign up this round. I am going to be away a lot over the next few months, and I have already been feeling that it takes away from my own sewing goals. I just want to be able to focus on what I want to work on during the time I have. I have passed up some other opportunities for the same reasons. Shipping has been getting expensive too.

There’s one more WIP going on… When I arrived back from Stash Bash, I happened to notice a large section of the underside of our roof had collapsed. It was in an area of our house we don’t see often, so who knows how long it has been like that. We have critters getting into the attic. And upon further inspection, they are chewing holes in the trim in other areas of our house. We had the repair people out… Part of the issue is that there is apparently NO paint on our house, when it was done it was done wrong, and our wood trim is rotting. That’s allowing the animals to get in and make things worse. So, in addition to repairing the damage, we have to have the entire house painted. Now, we have been talking about getting the house painted for about a year. We knew it needed it, but we thought it was purely cosmetic. Something to make our house hold its own as the only wood home in a subdivision of brick. But it was a lot of money to spend on something cosmetic, and other more necessary things kept coming up. And, honestly, if I were going to do cosmetic work on the house, I can think of several other things that rate more highly for me. I have such a love-hate relationship with my house. The money pit. Oh well. Now it is a necessity. With everything going on lately, our savings is pretty much shot now. We have to get really strict with our spending, and I am considering a part time job.

Anyway, we figured as long as we had to paint it, maybe we should take advantage of it.

Here is my house now

testing paint colors

 

And here is what it will look like. You know, paint wise. We aren’t ripping the whole house down and rebuilding, as much as it might need it. 😀

 

Work is starting right now, and my house will look completely different when I come home. As distressed as I am about money, it is exciting to get this done.

 

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