Gracie's New Home

My secret project has arrived so here is the picture:

Something funky and whimsical for Mom & Dad's camper. The is a M&H paper pieced design and there are 2 more similar in theme for later surprises.

The Little Gracie came on Thursday in 3 boxes, 1 box later and one piece is back ordered. I of course ripped right into the boxes and began the process of putting her together. Holy Cow! I gave up after I realized I put the table boards on backwards and out of order. When the hubby asked how I was doing I put a request in for some tools to make the job easier-who knew a screwdriver could hurt.

So on Friday he bought me a screwdriver-it is the cutest little thing. I got back to work after dinner and by midnight I had the machine sitting on the platforms. It is beautiful. If I could have found an extension cord that night midnight would have been early!

So here's Gracie....

I loaded my flannel 1/2 square triangle piece on it today and away I went. No thread breaks but I did have some serious puckers on the back piece. I think it is because I rolled the back and then pinned it-the directions and how to blogs say to pin to header then roll. So maybe the next one will be better.

Sewing, sewing, DONE!!

It has been a productive week here in Central PA. I finally made sense of the gazillion 1/2 square triangles, put the remaining scrap squares into a simple flannel blanket for the dog crate, finished a block from my 2+ year old Thimbleberries quilt (the one I am hoping to find the fabric to be able to finish) and put together the cutest wall hanging that I got as a kit last Christmas.

I also added the label to a secret project...obviously you can tell who it is for but you won't be able to see it until it arrives. I bought the pattern at the Hershey Quilt show. Zachary loves the pattern-he helped pick out the fabrics at our favorite shop in Montoursville. He had such an opinion on what they should be-the ladies thought he was so cute-man does he have them fooled!

The wall hanging is too cute and allowed me to use a couple of never used stitches on my machine-love it!! One of the stitches is the blanket stitch-shoot-how cool is this?? No hand cramping, no neck pain, no puckers, no ripping it out - I will definitely be trying more of these in the future. Plus the satin stitch on this new machine is so perfect with just one pass. Where was this machine when I was sewing Greek letters on sweatshirts for my sister by the dozen!

I am anxiously awaiting my EBay purchases from Shoreline Handwerks in Monteo, NC so that I can begin work on "The Mission" stained glass wall hanging. I still have to find the black fusible binding by Clover. I am hoping that JoAnn's carries this and I don't have order it online, which would mean more waiting!

This empties out my UFO box quite a bit. I am trying to complete some of the smaller things so that I can move on to some larger projects-Pennsylvania Pavers in the brown and pink Buggy Barn fabrics-Can't wait to see that one go together. As I was digging through the UFO box I came across this - You can't see it but the 3 trees are fused on and blanket stitched in green. The stars are also fused and blanket stitched in gold. The binding is a burgundy with some molted pink where you see light spots. My mom had me do the embroidery part-it was meant to be a gift but we did not get it finished in time so my recollection of it is that I get to keep the wall hanging-Mom's recollection is that I can keep it until it is done then it is hers.....I will trade it for my Triple Irish chain hanging in her living room! Guess I get to keep it after all ;)

Mom-do you have any of the border fabric left for the binding? Yes I can make another one-especially now that the machine will do the stitch for me!! I bet I could turn these out quit quickly!

Emptying out the UFO box has caused the "Find a Quilter" pile to increase. I have been "hinting" for a Little Gracie II for a few months and the hubby finally heard me. What drove this was me asking to be budgeted for $200 so that I could get my brother's wedding quilt done before Christmas (yeah so what that their 5 year anniversary was Labor Day). He was concerned that I was being "taken" with the price tag until he researched it himself with my guidelines-NOT an all over pattern (I spent too much time perfecting those matching seams) a specific "Daisy" quilt pattern in every other block and Warm & Natural batting. He found services for slightly lower but wondered how much that thing was that I wanted-so he researched that too-"Babe-do you realize that with 4 of your quilts you have paid your self back with the Grace thing?" Me-"no kidding really - 4 quilts?? I had no idea-I have 4 right now that need to be sent for quilting".

He ordered it on Saturday and the predicted delivery date is Thursday!!! OMG! I am beyond excited! The catch is that it will be a Christmas and a birthday gift-well worth it if you ask me! I will be asking everyone else for Our Gathering Place gift certificates for sure this year!