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Not in age. That's so far in my rear view window that I don't even remember it. I made it to 40 with the number of verterans quilts that I quilted this year! After posting yesterday I started to wonder if I could get 2 more done before the meeting last night. I have backs and batting precut so it only took 10 minutes to load the quilt back.
Both of these quilts were assembled from blocks made by club members. Becky handed out kits of fabric and they all came together for these 2 quilts. Two other members volunteered to take them home to bind. We didn't keep count but I'm pretty sure we made over 60 quilts this year for the VA hospital. Terry and I quilt them and Terry's Mom distributes them when she volunteers at the hospital. I think we have a good process going on!  I picked these 2 quilts to quilt yesterday because I knew I'd do a fast stipple on them. Any time that I get a sampler style quilt I'm going to quilt it with an overall design. I also knew I'd use the same thread on both quilts. My time limitation meant stipple and I got both of them loaded and quilted in 2 hours!  I can always count on my Innova for perfect tension too! The top thread is variegated and a bit darker and it doesn't show through anywhere on the back.
Now I can quilt one of my quilts!  This weekend I finished quilting the QOV quilt. I have the binding ready to go and I WILL get this done by the end of the month just so I can check it off my list. After that I decided to load a couple of veterans quilts. My goal was to quilt 40 this year and I'm up to 36. We also have our meeting tonight and thought I might be able to get 2 more done and return them at the meeting. I did some really fast and simple quilting and got these 2 done.
Now I have 38 done and only 2 to go. I'll load those next, get them done, and then move on to one of my own projects.
In Christmas news, the lights on our tree will stay on for 10 minutes max. I spent yesterday afternoon looking for a replacement led adapter plug. Of course I found nothing locally but did find something online that should work. It will be here by the 22nd. For $30 I could have gotten in in 4 days. Nope, not for a $7 part. Glad we aren't hosting a party! The Rainbow quilt is my "travel" project. I mostly work on it once a month when I sew with my quilt club. Since I last posted an update I was able to work on it at the river over Thanksgiving and this past weekend. The Rainbow Quilt is a free pattern you can download on the website.  I've made great progress. Over Thanksgiving I got all of the main blocks made and this past weekend I made all of the border blocks. I actually have enough for a king quilt and a lap quilt. There's also enough leftovers that I might end up with a baby quilt or another Fractured Fragments-type quilt.  When I got home from sewing Saturday night I just had to put some blocks on the wall and see how it's going to look.....and it's going to look awesome! I can't wait to start putting it all together in January.
Today I'm going to be desperately trying to figure out how to fix the lights on the Christmas tree. It's a pre-lit LED tree that we bought last year and we think there's something wrong with the plug. Fingers crossed that I can find a replacement and that it will fix it. A tree without lights is kind of depressing. Several weeks ago I was investing time in Facebook and happened upon a post by Massachusettes artist Sara Desjardins. I'm kind of weak for vultures and I fell in love with her needle felted Gryphon Vulture.  I named him Valentino and he's about 8 x 11 and here are a couple of close up photos to show you more detail.   The detail on him is amazing and yesterday I was able to pick him up from the framer.  If you are in the Richmond, VA area I highly recommend Beveled Edge in Innsbrook. I use Steve for everything. It costs a kidney to get something framed but he knows exactly how to really make a piece special.  I have him hanging in a temproary location right now but soon everything is going to get moved around so that he has one of the primo spots in the house. I want all of my guests to be greeted by Valentino when they come to visit.
 Patricia Caldwell, The Butterfly Quilter, is a very prolific artist and her work is in high demand. I consider myself very fortuante that she likes to use my fabric in much of her art.Her newest piece is Catching A Dream and uses the Fire Line Gradient. She is really a master at getting the most our of the gradients!   I made progress on the QOV on the last 2 days just working on it in snippets of time. I want it done quickly so I decided on a ribbon meander. Doubling over the meander path makes such a huge difference as you can see here where I haven't yet gone back over the current row.  I've also got the kiln busy slumping bottles. I've collected quite a few lately so it was time to get through them. I can only fit 3 at a time in the kiln and have a second batch going now. Hopefully I'll get these in the shop in the next week.
But my priority for today is to catch up on getting some fabric in the shop. I've fallen behind on my ironing. Anyone can find me at the ironing board listening to a book today.  We don't actually do a lot of gift exchanging around here for Christmas. I tend to give people things whenever I see them. My family doesn't exchange gifts, instead we are starting a new tradition to spend some vacation time together each summer. But I do have one group of friends that I have drinks with each month and I try to make something for them each year. One year it was potholders, one year soap and lotion and the others I can't remember right now! This year I decided to dye scarves for them. These are Cut Velvet scarves from Dharma Trading and they dye really nice. Hopefully they will like the colors I chose for each of them! Otherwise I've really only been piddling around several different things. I did finally get all of the decrating done....all that I'm going to do. I'm not putting out the beaded ornaments this year. Sometimes decorations need to take a break! I have the tree with the glass ornaments and that will do fine. I started quilting the QOV quilt. Since I'm doing it with a ribbon meander it should be done in a day or 2. I"m futzing with the glass a bit and have a couple of projects there that I really need to focus on and get done.  Finally, last night I started some more postcards. These will be for December bithdays (one of which is past due already). For the December cards I try to make sure that they look nothing like Christmas cards. That's especially true for my SIL with a December 23 birthday. I hope to get these done by the weekend.
 December is gift giving season....even if the gift is one you are giving to yourself. I'm having a little sale to help those of you looking for something special for you or your creative friends. All Stash Packs are $20!Color Wheel Stash packs are always on sale but today through December 11, all Stash Packs are on sale for the Color Wheel price. Stash Packs are sets of 10 fat eighths in a color theme. There are over 20 different sets to choose from. They are perfect for art quilters, scrap quilters and anyone who likes having a variety of color and textures. These fabrics mix great with commercial fabrics on your quilts. Gift Wrapping Available! If you want the pack wrapped and shipped to a friend just put the correct shipping address in and leave a note on the order to let me know that you want the package wrapped. Shop now!  Addressed, stamped and mailed. I'm ready to call Christmas done. I don't even want to decorate but Chris is prodding me to start doing some of it today and so, I will. I know I'll like it once it's up but, honestly, I'd rather spend the day cutting glass or quilting. Judy, at Judy's Quilting Studio, is hosting a postcard challenge and asked me to do something that I've never done before. She wanted me to tally the miles my cards will travel. It seemed like a daunting task at first but you know me, I love to track things. If you are making and sending postcards you can participate too. Just check it out on her blog. So here's my chart.  Most of my cards, of course, are staying in Virginia but I have a few that are traveling long distances. One is going to England and a few to the Wests Coast. Don't get too caught up in the cities. Tampa for example actually represents Tampa and a MidWest city that was the same distance. I still have a few more to address and several that will be handed out personally but I'm pretty impressed with a total of 23,700 miles (or 38183 kilometers).
 This is the last UFO report for 2016. We had 10 participants for last month and the winner is Susan!
I didn't accomplish anything on my UFO list in November but I did make over 90 fabric postcards that all went in the mail today! But there's a possibility that I will get 2 projects done in December (placemats and the QOV) which would get me down to 18 UFO projects left. I also have a goal to 1uilt 4 more veterans quilts in December and that should be easily done too. Although I didn't meet my goal I have made a good dent in the list of 29 projects that I had a couple of years ago. More importantly I've put a little brake pressure on starting new projects and that's a really good thing. I think just to keep myself accountable I'll probably keep doing thse posts next year but not make it into a big project. Anyone who wants to come along is welcome. Starting UFO 24 Finished YTD 7 (Goal 14) Started YTD 3 (Planned 6) Ending UFO 20 (Goal 15) Veterans YTD 36 (Goal 40) |
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In Bloglovin you need to search "Colorways By Vicki Welsh" to find the blog. About Vicki
I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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