A Prolific Quilting Week!

November 10, 2012

 

This is the first quilt that i totally finished this week. it's called the "mile a minute" quilt (i think) and it's supposed to take you less than an hour to sew the top (after cutting the strips). you can make it with a jelly roll but i used my accuquilt go and my 2.5" die and my own stash. it took me about 3 hours to do because i really took my time, listened to an audio book and just sewed. it was fun. now the back took another 3 hours because i decided to use up the leftover material and make a scrappy back. then for the quilting! i never know how long it takes me to do quilty projects because i'm always stopping and interrupting my work. this time i listened to the audio book "a separate peace". it was 13.5 hours long and i finished my quilt about 15 minutes after the book finished. i haven't used my hq16 for a LONG time and it took me a bit to get back into the rhythm of things but it was like getting back on the horse. the quilting totally makes this quilt interesting. i did free motion flowers on it in different sizes. i also used the frixion pens to mark it and with a touch of an iron the ink was gone. so to sum up, this lap sized quilt took 2hrs(cutting fabric) plus 3 hrs(sewing top together) plus 3hrs(back and sandwich) plus 14hrs(quilting) plus 2 hours(binding) = 24 hours to make this quilt! wow, that's the first time i've ever kept track of how much time i've invested into a project! the missouri star quilt company has a tutorial to make this quilt if you're interested. this quilt is going to one of our best friends' daughter who is getting married tomorrow.

the second quilt i finished this week is the modern? quilt that i've been working on for the past few months. this is for the same family. their son was married in september and we were not able to attend the wedding. this took me much less time to quilt because i did straight lines. i used my hq16, my frixion pens for marking and i free motion quilted it. i don't think it took me more than 4 hours to quilt it. piecing the top and the back took much more time than the mile a minute quilt. i used my fancy stitches with some variegated thread i had and it added some pizzaz to the back. i think if i had kept track i would have found it took about the same amount of time for this quilt. i am lucky that i like all the processes of making a quilt. i think they will both like their quilts. the mister and i do!

as a bridal shower gift for both of them i made a sewing kit. i put scissors, pins, needles, clips, buttons, thread, a pincushion that i made and the most important item.....iron on hemming tape. i can remember i could have used that more than once when my family was young and the mister and i were working many hours and running around for our 3 sons. i made it so that they could take it if they were traveling or stick it in a drawer when they are at home. i hope they like it and find it useful. i am thinking of making some for gifts for my sons & daughter in law. i used my joannes coupons for the items and really didn't spend too much on it.

nora jean took a real liking to this quilt and whenever and wherever i set it down she plopped on it. the other quilt she didn't really bother with. i wonder if she could see the colors better on this one? i know that cats can't see all colors. she was quite miffed when i shooed her off  of it and jumped back on the table several times and laid back down on it. usually she just strolls off kind of like she didn't care anyway. i was trying to clean the cat hairs off of it so that i could take pictures and then wrap it!

well our weather has been quite blustery but not really too cold. we love it like this. we've been bringing wood in and stoking up the stove. this year, with the extra insulation we put in last spring, it has been keeping the house pretty toasty. we've had some very aggressive bluejays that have been taking over the feeder. bummer! they're such a beautiful bird but they're not into sharing!

well, this week i love: weddings, windy weather, birds, QUILTING, the mister and of course nora jean. have a great week and i will too. nancyb