More Tissue Box Covers

Tonight I spent some time working on the tissue box covers. I am at the point now where I am turning down the top to make the drawstring case. I should be able to finish the sewing tomorrow and then just have the drawstring parts to do. I might do that in front of the TV since it doesn't involve the machine!

I realized I had forgotten to identify my UFO projects for each month. So in retrospective, The Quilt That Never Ends was my November project. As for December, I probably would have said that my Christmas quilt binding would have been that, but I actually finished it before December even started! So I think I'm going to pronounce that my December project will be my Big Block Throw quilt from the retreat this year. The top was sent to my friend Linda for quilting and I was happily surprised with a call yesterday that it was ready. The plan is to pick it up this weekend and get the binding made and put on before we go to Houston for Christmas. It would be nice to have this to work on in the car, but I also have a dog agility trial before then, and it's likely a large dent will be made in binding while sitting and waiting to run.

Another project I want to have ready for the trip is some hand applique and hand quilting. I have my 2008 Block of the month quilt that I want to try hand applique on. I like machine applique but I don't want the heavy lines on this quilt. I already have the back pieced together I just need to create the bias binding for the vines and some flowers. I'm not so sure that this will get accomplished before the trip because of the scrapbooking projects I want to give as gifts.

The other project is a panel I got at the retreat this year. It's a Japanese Koi panel that would be so pretty to quilt in fancy thread. So I'm going to make the attempt. Tomorrow Tina and I will be going to Jo-Anns over lunch and I am going to buy the fabric for the back then.

New projects

This picture is actually from last night. I started working on the tissue box covers collections. The pattern is from the quilt retreat and is super simple. I made one to make sure I understood the instructions and cut the fabric for the rest.

I also went through a bag of clothes marked for repair, only to find that most of them were too big and will be freecycled. Yea for Kyle!

Tonight I started to sew the rest of he tissue box covers but my head is just killing me. I think a shower is in order and maybe some offline scrapbook planning and online Christmas shopping.

Christmas Project 1 Complete!

This afternoon I finished my potato cookers. The finishing isn't really up to my standards but I'm not sure what else I can do to make them more professional. Still need to attach a recipe card to them but that will not take long. This evening I will probably craft some more but I'm not sure if it will be sewing the second Christmas projects or working on scrapbooking. Both need to get done before the weekend.

Not quite done

I ended up going to the store to do some grocery shopping and get a Christmas gift so I didn't get started sewing until late. I think with another hour of work tomorrow I can finish the potato cookers! Then on to the other Christmas gifts, clothing repair and make a no-sew fleece blanket. We shall see. There are scrapbooks to work on as well.

More potatoes!

Look familiar? I spent Wednesday evening cutting out the fabric for the three potato cookers that I need to make. Good enough. Thursday's task will be to put them together.

Monthly Sewing Night

Tuesday was our monthly sewing get-together and I was fortunate to be able to pick up my machine from the dealer on the way in. The planned project was to work on a Christmas gift that is a baked potato cooker for the microwave. Although it is an easy pattern, it took a while because the instructions are a bit lacking (Deja Vu)? But this is the end result. Imagine the jelly roll to be a potato and you get the idea. It turned out pretty well for my first attempt. This one is going to my sister because she won't care that it's not perfect. Three more to go!

I wasn't sitting around doing nothing!

I was lucky enough to get my binding made and sewn onto the front of my 2007 block of the month quilt from Rustic Yearnings before my machine demanded to be serviced. I had started the hand binding on the back before the Thanksgiving holiday but hadn't gotten to far into it. We decided to go to Texas for the holiday so I packed up my supplies and bound the quilt while driving. Lucky for me my motion sickness did not kick in! It only took 3 years, 2 attempts at appliqué and 1600 miles to finish but here it is! So my 15 minutes a day strategy wasn't applied very well during the last few weeks but the marathon 2-day binding-test made up for it.

Cutting

Tonight I spent my 15 minutes cutting paper into 8 x 8 squares for my album. I may do more tonight but I need to work on our budget since I lost it this weekend.

Well, It's Not Quilting....

But I did spend some time today cleaning up my craft space and organizing my current scrapbook project. The Quilt That Never Ends almost did in my machine so I sent it to be serviced this weekend and will be without for two weeks.

For my current scrap project I decided on all the paper colors and identified some pictures I still need to print. If I can get one page done a night I should be able to finish the projects right after Thanksgiving, sooner if I can devote a few hours this weekend.

Tomorrow I want to continue cleaning my area (it's a huge mess) and scrapping.

The Quilt That Never Ends... Ended Today!

Today I finished the quilt that has tested my patience. It turned out way better than I ever thought it would. I sent it to the quilter today along with the Big Block Throw from the retreat.

Although I don't need another project...

One thing I'm hoping to work on is my first Mystery Quilt, put together by Bonnie at Quiltville.

I'm super excited because I've never done one and it seems like a great way to use up my scraps. So one task for this weekend would be to try and get my fabric together and sorted, but I'll need some bins and bags...

But for now I must sleep.

I Have Been Plotting and Piecing

So I really have been working on crafts this week, just not being he best about posting.

On Monday night I picked out fabric for a Christmas gift project. I won't put much more info here to keep it a surprise but can you guess by the picture?

The other nights I've spent working on the Quilt that Never Ends. I finished the blocks and sewed them into rows. My extra fabric arrived so if everything goes well I can sew the rows together and add the border on tomorrow. Then Sunday I might be able to take it and another quilt to the long-arm quilter.

From then on it's all about the Christmas presents followed by a desperately-needed machine servicing.

Binding and a Movie

We did A LOT today around the house and yard and my legs are killing me! The thought of working the foot pedal on my machine made me hurt more. So I put in a movie and grabbed the Christmas quilt and started binding.

Tomorrow I will hopefully get back to working on The Quilt That Never Ends and the upcoming holiday gifts.

The Quilt that Never Ends

I spent a lot of time working on this quilt tonight and still don't have the blocks done. Hopefully only another hour or so to finish the blocks. I did find the fabric I need online so I will be ordering that soon so I can finish the border.

Now I am alone for the evening since Kyle has to work the time change. What's a girl to do? I am torn between setting up my machine and sewing some more, laundry and general pickup or working on a scrapbook design.

Stupid Squares

The woman who made this pattern does not know how to figure yardage or write a pattern. At the quilt retreat I spent hours trying to determine how to cut all the pieces out of the fat quarters without repeats (not a chance) and then spent an entire day cutting fabric. There is so much waste in this pattern that I'm mad I didn't spend the time to re-figure the pattern for less waste and more clarity.

Anyways, we went out for birthday dinners tonight so I didn't have a ton of time. But squares are easy so I decided to cut the 120 4.5 inch squares needed for the final nest and then the border from the same fabric. Of course I didn't know when I bought this fabric that the pattern maker didn't figure her yardage correctly so of course I am short about 10 inches.

Tomorrow before the quilt time I will go on a quest for this fabric in the local quilt shops. I might end up ordering it online though. I don't think the quilt will be the same if the border isn't the same as these squares. The other option is no border. I don't think I'll like that so much though.

Binding Boredom

I hate making binding. I hate putting the binding on by machine because it takes so long. But I don't mind hand binding. It allows me to feel productive while I watch tv or movies.

Tonight was the first night since Sunday where I had 15 minutes to spare for quilting. Since I had no hand projects to work on I thought it might be good to start working on the binding for my last big quilt to finish in 2009. I started by just cutting the excess fabric from the quilt. Then I moved to searching my stash for just the right fabric (Kyle assisted) and just went for it by making the binding and attaching it to the quilt. So now I have a very large quilt that I can bind while watching tv, talking or waiting my turn at the dog agility trials.