 Yesterday was a great day. It rained all day and that was all the encouragement I needed to declare it a quilting day. I got both of the veterans quilts on the frame quilted. After they were quilted and trimmed I had enough time to bind this one. The blue fabrics in this quilt are all leftovers from hand dyed veterans quilt backs and the print fabrics are the last leftovers from several veterans quilts that I made with patriotic batiks. I will make this pattern again. It went together really fast.  It's quilted in red thread in the stars and ribbons pantograph.  The second quilt was made by Marsha and is actually a little longer than our standard size. I didn't catch it ahead of time (like I usually do) so I had to cut a custom back for this one. It all worked out and it was a good reminder for me to double check the quilt top sizes. It will work fine to donate but anything longer than about 60" is inefficient for out quilting process. Since we made over 150 quilts this year, we need to keep the quilting process efficient!  After dinner I even had time to use up all of my batting scraps and make 4 pet beds for donation to Richmond Animal League.
Today there are appointments and a couple of errands but, in the afternoon, I hope to get busy preparing for a dyeing days tomorrow and Saturday.
9 Comments
 I didn't get in a lot of sewing this weekend. Mom and I went to Chesapeake Saturday to see her Great-Granddaughter. She was adorable, as expected. I'd love to share a photo but I have a personal rule not to share photos of kids on the internet. You'll just have to trust me that she's the cutest 1 year old ever! But on Friday and yesterday, in between addressing Christmas cards, I got back to the veterans quilts and I put the binding on this double 4-patch. This is my 10th veterans quilt finish for the year and probably the 3rd or 4th time I've made this particular pattern.  The border is quilted with straight lines about 1" apart and the center is wavy crosshatch.  I also got this veterans top together and ready for quilting. Now that the postcards are done, I can get back to quilting some veterans quilts.
I don't know that I'll get much done today because I have set up some appointments to get estimates for re-siding our house. It's a week of appointments! 3 for siding contractors, 1 to have the carpet stretched and 1 to have a ding in the windshield fixed. It will all be balanced out by drinks with friends tonight and quilt club tomorrow night. Next week starts jury duty assignment so who know what that will bring.
I actually don't have a lot of finishes for November but I have this one late one. I hate having leftover yarn from a project so I have some corner-to-corner blankets in process that use up all of my leftovers. This one is the 4 weight yarn and I took it to the river this past weekend. We were hanging out with my friend and my very favorite dog, Ouiser. We mostly just relaxed, watched football, ate a lot of food and binge watched the Great British Bakeoff. I was able to finish this blanket. It's about 28 x 36 and is meant to be a wheelchair lap blanket. I'll let the charity decide if they think it will be OK for donation. Otherwise, they can donate it to a pet charity. The only other projects that I finished in November are one veterans quilt, one birthday postcard and 3 shawls. I quilted 3 veterans quilts because that was all we had for the month. I have a few more now to get quilted this month.
I started a lot of things that all should be done in December, including over 80 Christmas postcards that will be done this week. Here are my YTD stats: Quilts - 2 Veterans quilts made - 9 Donation lap quilts - Veterans quilts quilted - 55 Fabric Postcards - 24 Pet Beds - 9 Quilted for others - 3 Crochet blankets - 4 Crochet shawls - 4 Crochet/loom knit hats and scarves - 24 Placemats and Table Runners - 14 Potholders - 63 Dyed shirts and towels - 21 Other Donated items - 232 Garments (sewn and cochet) - 1 Balls of yarn used or gifted - 51 Here are my goals for December: - Finish 80+ postcards - Bind three veterans quilt - Quilt 6 veterans quilts - Quilt and bind the farm quilt - Dye some t-shirts and tea towels for Christmas gifts - make pet beds  Here's a little break from postcards. For the past few months I've been slowly trying to use up a stash of Lion Brand Mandala Tweed yarn. It's a very nice, soft yarn and really snuggly for shawls. I bought a lot of it on sale a few years ago and these 3 shawls use up most of what I bought in the color Cats Eye. I have a little bit of yarn left that will go into a scrap blanket. The last step was to add a button to each shawl. Now they are ready to deliver to From The Heart, along with a lot hats, surgery drain bags and some blankets.  I just love the color changes on this yarn.  I think this is my favorite but I like all three and.hopefully, they will bring warmth to someone in need.
The pattern is here and I used a J, 6.0mm hook. We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving at home with Mom and we head to the river to hang out with my favorite dog, Ouiser, for the weekend. I'll be back to finish the postcards Monday.  Yesterday was quite productive. I got both of the veterans quilts quilted. This one was made by Glenda (Mom). I think we found this pattern, or a quilt made like this, somewhere online. It's a simple 16-patch alternated with a double 4-patch where 2 of the blocks are framed squares.  I quilted this one with a wavy crosshatch in a medium green thread.  This is one that I made. You may remember when I was auditioning fabric for the 4" squares.Most people wanted the green but I loved the orange. If it's any consolation for the green people, I did quilt it with dark green thread. I've made several versions of this double 4-patch. Some with and some without the border. It's a good scrap buster.  I quilted the center with a wavy crosshatch and the border with straight lines. Both quilted up pretty quickly.  Today I'm making the last veterans quilt delivery for 2024. This is 34 quilts which will bring our YTD total to 163! We really outdid ourselves this year. For comparison, last year we did 116 and that was our biggest year.
 I finally got the binding on this quilt and it's officially my first finish of November. I've made this quilt a number of times and, I have to admit, that this is the least successful one. I just don't have enough value contrast in some of the blocks. But, it's still patriotic and I think that someone will appreciate it.  I also got 6 rows of this quilt together. I can get it off the design wall soon!
Today I officially start looking for ideas for Christmas cards and we have quilt club tonight. It's our annual Trash-to-treasure fundraiser and I hear we are going to have A LOT of stuff for sale.  This weekend involved a lot of laundry and a visit to my brother's but I also finished quilting these 2 veterans quilts. These are made from block project for quilt club. Becky gave out the 2.5" red center squares and members bordered with patriotic fabrics. Then becky gathered all the blocks and combined them with other fabric. I think she made 5 quilts from all the blocks and these are just 2 of them.  The background fabrics really changes the look and I like both of them a lot. I quilted them with dark blue thread and the stars and ribbons pantograph.  This week I have one veterans quilt that needs a binding and I really need to get this top sewn together so I can have the design wall back. I'll have a little more sewing time as we wait for the trees to drop the rest of their leaves.
 I only had to do one session of leaf blowing today so I had time and energy to get 2 more veterans quilts loaded and I'm finished with the first one.
I should be able to finish this one today between dropping off old electronics to the county e-waste event and going to visit my brother later in the afternoon. After these 2 quilts I only have 2 others, the ones Mom and I finished on vacation last weekend.  We had a lovely trip to the beach. I live only about 2.5 hours from Sandbridge Beach and I even lived in Virginia Beach twice, but I never spent any time at Sandbridge. It's a lovely beach and we really enjoyed it. This photo was taken from the pier and that's our condo building in the background. It was the last building before the city public property and Back Bay Wildlife Refuge area.  We were well entertained too! The Oceana Naval Air Station is nearby so we got to watch some practice maneuvers.  We also discovered that people ride horseback on the beach on Saturday mornings!  I'm not a morning person, like this person on the beach, but I did get to see the sunrise every day.  We walked on the pier one day and the pigeons and grackles were patiently awaiting any catches from the fishermen on the pier (yes, all men on this day).  One day I walked to the Back Bay Wildlife Refuge where this sign says no people beyond this sign. Hmmm, people and tire tracks.  We got some sewing and crochet done. Mom finished a veterans top and I finished this one. I'm glad I chose the orange fabric but Mom still wanted the green!  I finished the second donation shawl in this yarn. I just need to add a button.  I started the third (and last) one in this yarn.
We came home totally relaxed. That will wear off today as I work the election all day. I'll probably post again Thursday.
In September I pulled these 5 and 6 weight yarns from the stash and made a plan to use them up. I would make winter hats for donation. I've shared 7 already.  I've been working on them steadily all month and this weekend I finished the rest of the yarn to make 8 more hats for a total of 15! There was a tiny bit of leftover yarn, but not enough to make another hat. These are all large and XL sizes. Because of the thickness of the yarn, these will be very warm hats. I'll finish the shawl that I'm working on and then I'll deliver all these things I've made soon.  While I was cleaning off my cutting table, I found these 2 chemo hats that I made months ago and never shared.
Today is election day so I'll be at the precinct from 5 am to 8 pm. You probably won't hear from me until Thursday. On Thursday, Mom, Kim and I are headed to Sandbridge to enjoy the beach for a few days but I'll post from there. We are having a little sewing retreat and we'll get to see my Great Niece. |
FeedsTo subscribe click the RSS Feed button and copy the URL of that page into your blog reader.
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
All
Archives
December 2024
|
RSS Feed
