Not liking this quilt......

I ran out of backing-so off to Verna's (no complaints there) got the backing, decided on how to quilt it, decided to not use the variegated King Tut thread (have NO clue what to use that on now), had to buy white thread, loaded it on the frame got 1/2 through to learn that I was running out of batting!! UGH! Decided that I didn't want to run all the way to Williamsport for batting so I trekked to Wal Mart thinking that they had to have a packaged cotton batt-NOPE only polyester. Darn-all is on hold until tomorrow when I will have to visit Williamsport. I think I will buy a twin batt just to tuck away in case of emergencies.

All was not lost, I opened my Jo Ann Fabrics Bohemian block of the month and cut out the other 4 block pieces. I like the "Sunflower" block so I bought 1 kit and fat quarters of all the colors to make 3 more blocks for a simple wall hanging. Then I hit my ruler with the rotary cutter, chipped the blade and the ruler-set everything down and took a nap! I could not get a head today!

I hope everyone elses sewing went better today!

Next weekend is the Quilt Extravaganza in Hershey-SOOOO excited!

***I FOUND A PIECE OF BATTING THAT WORKS-BARELY!! NO ROOM FOR SHIFTING ON THIS BUGGER!!!

Don't you hate that??!!

Don't you just hate it when you buy what you need for a project only to get to a point and realize that you don't have enough fabric!! UGH!

I was asked to make a baby quilt as a gift. So we decided on a pattern (see a post in April about a Gazillion 1/2 square triangles) and away I went-construction was delayed due to the Boy Scout quilt but all was together this weekend. It took me HOURS to pick the triangle paper off the back so that it would press nice and flat. An off note-for picking the paper off the back-the Triangle Paper was much easier than the Thangles Paper.

Yesterday I came home from work ready to load everything on the quilt frame only to find that I did NOT have enough backing! UGH-kick scream cuss.....Daggone it. What I think happened because the one thing with quilting that I am really good at is the Math-is that I did not count for the 8 extra inches I need on all sides to load it on the frame. Right now if I chose to quilt it on my machine, not on the frame, I would have enough backing, but not enough to load it on the frame.

The bright side is that I now have a reason to treck out to Verna's on Saturday! I love Verna's and need to justify a reason for going otherwise I go without focus and BUY just randomly! Which is great but I am trying to stick to finishing what I have stuff for already.

Hopefully Saturday I can get this loaded and quilted. Part of my crazy thread purchase was a pastel variegated one that is intended for this-I want the quilting to be subtle so that the blocks stand out. I am thinking ABC's We will see. In the mean time I have some thangle BOM's to catch up on and the Debbie Mumm BOM to do-I just got the next 3 blocks on Monday. I am really liking these colors.

This is a random picture I took while in Chicago-I am standing inside "The Bean" looking up-very cool.

99% Finished

My disclaimer: I said that my goal was too ambitious on the Boy Scout quilt for my Dad. I had good intentions-enough said-here is the tale....

Saturday as I was packing the Hubby and the Son for Boy Scout camp I realized that the son has been wearing the same 3 pairs of shorts because nothing else fits or is "dress", the sweatpants were 3" too short (I swear I JUST bought those!) and we needed bug spray and toothpaste. So off we went-how hard in June will it be to find pull on shorts in size 8-PLAIN....Just about impossible! JCPenny, Sears, Macy's, WalMart, The BonTon, Dick's Sporting goods, Old Navy, etc....na da! I avoided The Gap because of the price but as we were walking buy I popped in quick expecting to still be empty handed....would not be the case-there they were-plain, not denim, pull on shorts-they were perfect Rip Stop Nylon, drawstring everything-then I looked at the tag-$18 a PAIR!! Daggone-oh well. We bought 3 pairs - never did find a pair of sweat pants but we did get packed finally!

Essentially there was no sewing on Saturday-still a border to add, quilting to be done, binding to be bought and cut and then sewn....already behind the 8 ball.

The boys had to meet the rest of the Pack at 2 so we spent a lazy morning together and at 2 off they went-I was alone! Just me and the dog. I hated to head home and just sit when I had 2 days alone (hubby came and went from camp-alternated with Poppa) so off to JoAnn's I went. I never get to just wander and look-I always have people in the car waiting for me to get exactly what is on my list and leave! It was nice-they carry the BSA fabric and had one that would do for the binding. $100 later (after coupons!) I left for Wegman's grocery store and dinner-love their grilled veggies!

That night I got the borders on the quilt and the backing loaded on the frame. At 11PM I gave up and went to bed. Monday night I got everything loaded and started quilting. Did not go well....the thread coming off the cone got caught on something pulling the needle off center and it chipped my free motion foot causing a burr which the thread got caught in as I was stippling. I fixed the thread-modified it's path and used a paring knife to fix the burr because I could not find a file-which resulted in me putting said paring knife into my finger tip-YES there was swearing....Eventually I had it figured out and away I went. At 1 AM with about 3-4 passes left, I went to bed.

Tuesday night I finished the quilting and got the binding cut and sewn on-not hand sewn over to the back. I was able to hand sew about 1/4 of this that night. So although it is not done done, it is together and awaiting hand attention. I took it with me to show Dad-he likes it and was not expecting it.

The matching quilt for Zach is still in single blocks and will need to wait until after the pastel 1/2 square triangle and a potential wall hanging wedding gift-not part of the 6 year gift previously mentioned.

A finish!!

WAHOO!!! The 5+ year project is quilted! All that I have left to do is the binding-actually FIND the fabric that will become the binding. At the beginning of the year I make a list of things to do this year-this was a huge one on that list. I don't really remember what is on it-uh oh. I will have to go back and check it out.

While quilting this I was using King Tutt brand thread and ran out 2 passes from the end! I had purchased the thread while on vacation in North Carolina so there was no way to "run" any where and get another spool. I found a place online and of course I am not going to order just 1 spool of thread for a $6 shipping fee-No I ordered 5! $52 later I had what I needed to finish my 2 passes and then some!

The BSA Fabric quilt is almost a top-I have the borders to put on but an not sure what I want to do there....not much time to decide since I want this on the frame Friday night and off Saturday afternoon for binding and ready to go Sunday at noon....yeah I don't think I will make it either but you always have to be ambitious. Keep you posted!

No fancy blog titles-that part kills me. I can sit here and have at it with the key board but to come up with a catchy title is beyond my blogging ability.

I didn't realize that there was such a lack of posts-a whole month! I have been quilting so it has not been because of nothing to show.

This past month I decided to make some special Boy Scouts their own special Boy Scout quilts. I had seen things made from the fabric line in numerous magazines but have limited access locally to see something like that in a quilt store. So I bought a fat quarter bundle online and thought a turning twenty was in the works. Really what else is there for 20 fat quarters.....While in NC at Easter I visited a JoAnn's Super Craft Center-those stores are awesome! They sell furniture for Pete's sake. While there I saw some of the Kauffman fabric at Joann's (OF ALL THE PLACES!). So I bought a couple yards of the blue with the numbers down the side and the piece that has all the merit badges on it-actually after searching for a SPECIFIC merit badge on it I have discovered that they are NOT all represented.

Once back I decided that I didn't want to do a turning twenty-just not exciting enough for the fabric. So I flipped through some books and magazines, you know we all have them in piles and piles, and found a Floating Square block that is in a Layer Cake book I have bought during my Atlanta trip.

So off I go with my 20 fat quarters and my floating square block pattern. I needed 35 blocks for each quilt (x2) and could get about 4 out of each fat quarter-SWEET! So the adventure began....I cut and cut and cut, then I sewed and sewed and sewed, then ironed, ironed and ironed, the sewed and sewed and sewed.....you get the picture. What I left out is cutting apart my chain piecing each morning while waiting with Zach for the bus. He was great at sorting them back into coordinator fabric piles for me.

Finally last weekend I completed all the blocks and am ready to put them into rows and so forth. But the internal deal with my self is that I can get nothing done beyond the ROW stage until my brother's 6 year old wedding quilt is quilted and off the frame-mind you no mention of when the binding will go on.....

Production on the BSA quilts ceased on Saturday and quilting began on the 6 year old. I bought a spool of King Tutt thread in NC because I had heard great things about it online and was having trouble with looping and thread breaks. So I loaded the Tutt on the machine and away we went-AMAZING the difference the thread made-no broken threads and if I didn't move the machine down the frame too fast, there are no loops! So back and forth I went-it is a queen size so there were quite a few trips. I can see the leader cloths coming around the roll bars when suddenly no thread-literally 2 passes left to finish and I ran out of thread! UGH!

Once again the 6 year old is just sitting waiting for the postman to deliver the thread.

The update on my MBIII is that there isn't one. The one I made arrived safe and sound to it's new owner but the one I should have gotten is no where to be found and no word on what happens next. I have emailed the moderator of the swap but have not heard anything back-very not like her so life must be very busy which is understandable-to a point.

I guess the swaps are cool in theory but how to make adults follow through with their commitment to a perfect stranger? I deal with people not full filling their commitments every day and they are not even strangers! Oh well.

We are in Chicago this weekend doing the touristy thing-take care!
Shelly

MBIII Received!

My apologies to Sharon for not reading my comments and realizing that she received my MBIII swap on the 7th. She likes it and is so kind about the dish towel.

I am still anxiously awaiting mine-for those that know me they have got to be laughing because I do not like surprises-love presents but don't like not knowing. I do better when I am surprised.

Happy Mother's Day

Not much sewing going on lately due to job and soccer commitments. Zach is doing well so far in soccer. We finally convinced him to open his stride and he would be able to run faster and further. The child is all legs and does this Scooby-Doo running thing-yeah Scooby-Doo was the influence-he is a DIE HARD FAN! Last weekend the coach placed him in the goal-scared me crazy! My baby laying on the ground with the ball under his body and the feet of the other children flying towards him. I literally had to leave for the concession stand. He loved it and was not afraid at all-despite my fear I am proud.

My partner received my Miniature Booty Swap III, per the USPS tracking system. I can't wait to hear how she liked it. I have yet to receive one-I am on pins and needles to see what my quilty partner created for me!

My brother and sister-in-law's quilt is about 1/2 done and still on the frame. I am loving the King Tut thread-not the price tag especially since locally I will have to buy it online. The spool that I am using is one that I bought from Loving Stitches in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Then on the sewing table it a Confetti 1/2 square triangle project-the one I tested the like and dislike of Triangle Paper versus Thangles. The cutting table has numerous projects-I have seen a few blogs with lists that run along the side of "to do" projects-I would love to do something like that but the list would run a hundred pages. I digress-on the cutting table are my Boy Scouts of America fat quarters waiting for my time to turn into them into two lap quilts for my favorite scouts-Dad and Zachary.

The best project on the cutting table are my Paper Dolls! I was lucky enough to find the elusive Paper Doll fabric at Ben Franklin Crafts in Montoursville. They don't have the complimentary pieces but they do have the big dolls and the clothes! I will be making this for myself. I loved paper dolls as a child and had quite the collection. They included Betsy McCall, the Walton children and the Gingham Girls. Sadly my shoebox of paper treasures were lost along the path of life. This is perfect for me-plus it will add some girl to this masculine testosterone driven house that I live in!