 I didn't have a ton of time to sew yesterday but I had enough time to get one corner done! I'm getting exactly the effect that I wanted between the blue spikes and the gold spike border. My goal is to get the other 3 corners together today because I won't have any sewing time tomorrow. Chris and I are going to go clay shooting tomorrow with some friends. They want to get in some practice before their hunting trip to Nebraska. I haven't shot in over a year so I expect my participating in the event to provide the comic relief.  If I can get all of the corners pieced today then I can spend football Sunday ripping out all of the papers.
This is my only goal for the weekend....except for ironing a bunch of fabric Sunday morning. for my quilt!  All of the components for my quilt border are done!
This is all I have to show for my weekend because I was on a mission to get the last borde segments done. I did get outside some to trim up all of the shrubs around the buildings but, otherwise, I jsut worked on this quilt. I'm ready to put it all together.  I got very little done yesterday because I was hardly at home. Mom and I had much with my cousin and then I visited with a friend and we went to the hospital to visit another friend. It was a good day to be out and catching up with people. But you can see that I've started on the final border segments and this is what I'll be doing this weekend.  This is Ginger, my best friend's dog. We had lots of catching up to do yesterday. She had gotten into a little trouble that morning so she was glad to have a ally around for a few hours.  When I got home last night we watched the terrible football game and I made more progress on David's blanket. It's almost to the halfway point!
My goal this weekend is to finish the Red Sunset border segments. I need to get thsi quilt top wrapped up so I can get started on Christmas postcards.  This project is moving along quite well. It's possible that I can get the top together before my friend, Laura, arrives on the 27th. Yesterday I finished to right side of the spike border. None of this is sewn together yet. I'll do that after I get the final borders made.  Here's everything ready to start piecing the last border sections. It's pretty simple so should come together quickly.
I just wanted to show you today that I am slowly making progress on my Red Sunset quilt. I'm actually really motivated so I work on it whenever I can make some time. The "border" is actually 4 corners.  I started in the center of the corner triangle and am working my way to the edge. Many of you will look at this and think that there is not enough contrast between the blue points and the background. You are probably right but I'm not about to re-do them. It's a bed quilt after all and I'm cool with them the way they are.  Now I'm working on the gold spike border. It was a lto of work to cut it out but the stitching isn't quite as burdensome as I expected. So far, so good!  Next I will start on the other side of the spike border. After that there's only one more border to piece before I can put it all together.
I don't know how it was where you live but the weather was spectacular here in Virginia this weekend. Friday night we got to share some of the tuna catch with friends for a wonderful dinner on their patio. The weekend ended with a fantastic Eagles win over the Commanders. There was lots of quilting in between.  The first thing I did was get the binding on this veterans quilt. This is the 9th veterans quilt that I've made so far this year. We usually deliver a little over 100 quilts each year. It's such a wonderful way to keep us quilting. I was talking to a friend recently and we were talking about how we don't "need" to make more quilts. Our families have enough for a lifetime. The veterans quilts are wanted and needed, they are small and they are fun to make. Everyone wins.  This is the second quilt I've made with alternating 4-patch blocks and I have another kit cut out for one more. The light blue was cut from leftover veterans quilt back fabrics. The dotty dark blue batik is left over from all of the kits I cut earlier this summer and the brights are straight from my hand dyed scrap bin. Some of the fabrics are from the very first ones that I dyed over 13 year ago.  On Sunday morning, before football came on TV, I loaded the next 2 quilts to quilt. This one is a top that Mom made. I'd like to get 5 quilts quilted this week so that I can next load a queen size quilt that Mom made for herself.  Saturday afternoon I spent several hours cutting out all of the pieces for the Red Sunset borders. I had to dye more fabric this week before I could start cutting. I think I dyed close to 30 yards for this quilt. I know I used 13 yards of the gradient and then there was an additional 4 - 5 yards of the gold and about 12 yards of the dark red.  There are tons of leftovers, especially from the gradients. I'm already starting to think of something to do with the leftovers.....probably some placemats and maybe a veterans quilt kit.  This is why there's so much leftover. There was a lot of fussy cutting of the gradient. It was totally worth it and I know that the fabric won't go to waste.  But for now all of the leftover fabric is in the bottom of this bin just in case I need to re-cut anything. The pieces are stacked in the order that I want to work on them. The machine is set up and I'll start sewing this week. I'm excited to finish this quilt so I'm highly motivated. I should be able to get in some quality sewing and quilting time this week.
 Yay! The center of Red Sunset is done and I absolutely love it! The pattern is Tequila Lime by Quiltworx. There's not much to say about it except that it's done and I'm happy.  I wanted to get it done by Saturday because there was about this much paper in tiny bits all over my floor. I needed it cleaned up by Sunday morning so I could do my weekly fabric ironing. The paper removal is messy and tedious but I had a good book to keep me entertained. I think the extra work is worth it for perfect points.  The part I finished will be set on point with this border pattern. I'll start cutting the fabrics for these sections this week. I'm going to cut all the fabric at once, I think. Making these borders is going to take a minute or two.  To motivate myself I took a photo of the top on the guest bed. I think it's going to look awesome. The corners of the top of the bed will have blue spiky motifs. I think that will be perfect. Then the wave border will be on the drape at the corners.  I also tried another recipe from my new gluten free baking book and had another successful loaf. This one was more rustic. It was great for a steak sandwich for dinner and with hummus for lunch. This week I will try the loaf bread recipe.
I also did a good bit of crochet during football this weekend. I'll share that on Wednesday. I decided to keep going with hats for a week as a break from blankets.  I'm making progress! I think by the end of the weekend I will have the center of this quilt together and I'll be ready to start cutting fabric for the much-more-detailed border.  I know lot of people hate foundation piecing because of the hassle of removing the papers. That part has never bothered me and I generally remove paper as I do the piecing. As soon as a piece is enclosed I remove the paper behind it. It's a huge mess on my sewing room floor but a quick vacuum handles that. I don't worry about the little bits left behind. Once the quilt is washed all of that will just become part of the batting.
The weather was beautiful yesterday so it was nice to open the windows and to take my crochet out to the back porch after my dyeing session was over. I do love this time of the year.  As you can see from this photo I had time to sew yesterday and that means that our local Social Security office is well run by very pleasant people! There was a line when I got there (at opening) but they were very efficient and I was out within 35 minutes of the door opening. I didn't need my crochet bag or snacks! In fact, I made 6 stops on the way back and was home by 11:00. Then I got busy sewing on Red Sunset. I got the veins added to the blue pieces so you can get a better idea of how it's going to look in the photo above. Those were the last sections to piece before I could start sewing the center section together.  Of course there's a very specific order for piecing the top together and these are the first blocks to go together. They are the hardest to sew together so I'm glad to get them over with first. I got the 8 "lefts" done and will start the "rights" possibly this weekend.  It's also possible that I don't sew on Red Sunset at all this weekend because today and tomorrow are sewing with my quilt club. I picked this kit to sew on and I'm pretty sure I have cut enough for 2 quilts in this package. Mom is staying with us tonight and tomorrow so I may not get any sewing done at all and that's perfectly fine. There's always next week.
I hope you have a great weekend and get to do something fun for yourself.  I didn't do a lot of making yesterday because I was finally back in the dye studio. A month away was a good break and it took a minutes to shake off some cobwebs in my process. But I have 5 gradients processing to add to the shop next week. No new designs in this batch but I'll have some new ones soon.  I have gotten in a little sewing the last 2 days and I got that little curved gold piece added to 16 blocks. It may not look like much but Quiltworks patterns have very specific steps and adding curved pieces is a multi-step process. But their process works so I follow it. Next I'll work on the pieces that go in that "V" space. They have a curved vein on them too just like the ones at the center point of the stars. Soon I'll be ready to put the center of the quilt together and start on the borders. This is moving along faster than I anticipated mostly because I'm really enjoying working on it.
Today's progress will depend on my luck at the SSA office today. Fingers crossed! |
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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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