Weekend Sewing Update

This past weekend, I spent the evening sewing and then Saturday while "helping" Chyenne get her math lessons completed, I got to sew again.  So Betsy got a much needed workout and I got to do some quilting.

So here's what happened... With MaryAnna's move in date quickly approaching (we still don't know exactly when it will be, but it will be soon), I need to FINISH her quilt that was started back in May while on vacation in Florida.  So, I finished the top last week, and it was time to do a back for it.  When I set out to do this quilt, I bought all of the Fat Quarters I needed for the top, I also bought some fabric for the back.  (By the way, since we call the Top a "Top" why do we not call the other side the "Bottom"?  Or call them "Front" and "Back"?  Forgive me, I digress... But that has always bugged me!!)  When I got to working on it, I wound up short on FQs for the front, so you would think that I would KNOW I was not going to have enough for the back, but NO, I attacked it blindly and quickly realized that I indeed, didn't have enough.  So, with my commitment to NOT buy any more fabric for a while, I had to get creative...

So, I took all of the scraps left over from the front of the quilt and I grouped them by size.  I then cut up the brown fabric that I had bought for the back into similar sized blocks and started sewing them together end to end, alternating between brown and front fabric blocks.  I started with the largest pieces (6 inches wide) and I sewed until I had no more to sew.  I then measured what I had sewed (36 feet) and rolled it up for safe keeping.

Iron, Roll, Iron, Roll
A Tedious, but very Effective way of keeping long strips nice
and flat and organized...

30 plus feet of 6 inch wide fabric blocks all rolled up on a piece of PVC.

Then I did the same with the 4 inch pieces, the 3 inch pieces and the two inch pieces... After I had used all of the fabric from the front of the quilt (save one scrap that I want to use for something else), I sat and did some calculating... I was about 900 square inches shy of full coverage, so I decided to frame my stripped backing with a frame of brown.

Four Inch Roll...

I rolled the 3 inch strips around the 5 inch roll.

After cutting all of the strips to the proper length, I laid them all out to find a sequence that would bring some continuity to the otherwise completely random back...

All of the strips including the side borders, all ready
to be sewn together...

After sewing all of the backing strips together, I laid the top onto the back to make sure everything lined up properly and guess what?

My back was too short!  Oh, I was so MAD at myself... HOW Could I POSSIBLY mis-measure so badly!?  I was fuming as I took this photo... So much so, that I didn't even think to take a photo after I picked up the top and realized that I had yet to sew on the top and bottom brown framing strips!  Whew!  I KNEW I couldn't have been that far off on my math!

After attaching the top and bottom frame pieces, everything lined up just as I expected them to.  More photos soon as I will prepare my sandwich and quilt it in the next few days... And WAIT till you see the binding for this quilt!

I used just over three bobbins of thread.  I fill three bobbins at a time, and I rarely have to fill bobbins more than once in a weekend, but it was a 3 bobbin weekend!  Right now my bobbins are all full again and ready for another day of sewing...

My selvedge bin is filling up.  I'll still accept donations.  Thanks to those of you who have sent me selvedges.  I will create a quilt of nothing but selvedges as soon as the barrel is full!

And in a closing note... I have been reading of how hot it is in Texas, so this PALES in comparison, but I rarely use the AC on the way TO work in the morning at 5:30 AM, but yesterday, at 5:30 AM, this is what I saw when I started my engine...

86 degrees at 5:30 AM!!  The heat isn't actually a problem...
It's the Humidity that kills me!
Give me Arizona any day!

And Don't forget to visit Madamme Samm and leave a comment mentioning Me!  M, W, F = Newbies, Tue and Thu = Experienced Quilters.

If you haven't registered yet, or don't know what this is about.... There are some AWESOME prizes to be won, but you have to register with ME!  (or any of the other participating bloggers).  Learn more HERE.

Until Next Time,
Paul

Ironing Board went BOOOOOOM!!

Wondering what that title's about?  Well, it starts with a certain little furry friend I write about from time to time, you know, my quilt time "Supervisor".  Sunday night I quilted for about 2 hours, and my ever present quilting companion, Frappe' was, as usual, close at hand.  Mind you, Frappe' is generally a shy kitty.  She generally runs from me if I try to pick her up, and only rarely does she sit still and actually let me pet her, but if I take out Ol' Betsy (my sewing machine if you're a new reader), Frappe' will come running and sit and watch me quilt for hours.

Last night I walked away for a minute to change the channel on the TV because the movie I was watching ended when all of a sudden, BOOOM!!  I think I jumped a foot in the air.  It was so unexpected, and so loud, and so close.  I turned exclaiming, "What the Heck was THAT!!" and I saw her disappear around the corner.  From where I was I couldn't see, and I didn't notice that something was missing, until I walked over and found this...

My wife yelled from upstairs, "Are you OK!?"  Jonathon came running, "What was THAT!?"  To which I responded, "You're goofy CAT!  That's what!"

It is amazing how much noise an ironing board and iron can make when they hit a hard wood floor!!

Anyway, enough about Frappe'.  I had the iron and ironing board out because I was actually doing some Quilting for a change!  I have been very busy on a few other projects these past two weeks and it felt good to sit down, cut fabric, and then sew it back together again...

The past few nights I have been working on MaryAnna's quilt as she will be moving in soon and I want it to be done when she does.  For those of you who are seeing this quilt for the first time, MaryAnna LOVES animal prints and roses.  She picked out her own fabric for this project, and actually helped me in the design process as well.  See this POST if you would like to learn more.

3 more Rows of Fabric all layed out and ready for Chain Piecing...

Chain Piecing the long Strips together

And adding the Ends to the blocks

More Chain Piecing of all the "little bits"

I hate it when I have to take out my Seam Ripper...
Do you see what I did?  I sewed a second Seam!
A nice perfect 1/4" seam, right next to the first one!
What WAS I thinking??  It goes to show that
There Is a First for Everything...

The new rows, ready to be added to the quilt.

And now her quilt top is finished and ready for a
backing and quilting.  I am thinking I will quilt this
with straight lines 1/4" from the center block edges

The Top half

And the Bottom Half.

 I am still undecided on the back for this quilt.  It will be randomly pieced using some of the remnants of the fabrics used on the front, but I am unsure how I will do this.  I have thought about a "coin stack" top to bottom.  I have also thought about doing a vertical row of bricks, slightly off center. And I have thought about using the "Falling Block" concept.  I'll make up my mind soon, as this needs to be done soon!

And now, I'll leave you with this.  Frappe' is too funny.  The other day she got a spider stuck to her eyelash and she could see it, and of course, she saw it everywhere she looked.  It probably looked HUGE to her, before I turned on the camera she kept trying to bat at it, luckily I was able to catch a little video of her when she finally caught it... and then had a snack!!

 

 

Until Next Time,
Paul