MaMotts’ 90th Birthday Quilt
Family members: Shhh! Remember that this project and the party are super secret.
I mentioned before that I'm making a quilt for my grandmother's 90th birthday. Most of my work on this has happened during marathon sewing sessions over the past few weekends. I can’t believe how long this is taking me! I don’t think I’m going particularly slowly so I guess I just have no concept of how long it takes to make this type of quilt in this size. It’s my first quilt larger than a baby quilt, so I’m a little scared of how the quilting is going to go.
The good news is that I have all of the sashing cut out so it's just a matter of putting together the quilt blocks and then sewing the quilt top together. I hope to get the quilt sandwich together on Saturday and start quilting on Sunday. The party is on February 11th and I really don’t want to be working on this quilt right before I run out the door!
Sewaholic Minoru Jacket
Most of my Wednesday Sewing Class time has been spent on the Minoru. I put together a muslin and was so pleased with the fit—no alterations needed! I have all of the pieces cut out for the real deal but have been devoting so much of my sewing time to finishing up the quilt that I haven’t gotten much else done. Once I finish the quilt, the Minoru is first on my list to finish up.
Charity Auction Heart
I’ll explain more about this heart at a later date, but the concept is that community members decorate hearts and then they are auctioned off to raise funds for the South Trenton Area Residents’ Society. Our hearts are due tomorrow so I really took this one down to the wire! I have been frantically embroidering during lunch and on train rides this week. Tonight I’ll be tasked with finishing the embroidery and then mounting the fabric on the heart. Then it’ll be shipped off to be hung in the auction gallery. I’ll share the completed heart soon!
Knitted Blanket
I finished the ends of all of my panels, now I just have to block them and then piece them together. Not much progress here!
Basic Chevron Scarf
My knitting practice has turned into an actual project. I enjoyed this stitch so much that I decided to keep going and make it into a scarf. I think the tension issues that I was having in the beginning are getting better.
I've been holding the yarn a little looser and that seems to be fixing things. Thanks for the tips, you guys! I think I’m going to have to join two skeins of yarn together soon, which I’ve never done before. Yay for expanding my knitting repertoire! (Side note: Isn't repertoire such a classy word? My piano teacher taught it to me when I was little and it always reminds me of her.)
State Bird Embroidered Quilt
I was almost finished with the first bird when I realized that I didn’t like how it was turning out by using the actual colors of the bird. After some deliberation with Nick, we decided to mimic Martha’s look and use one color per bird. So it looks like I get to start from scratch on this one. At least I figured this out before I got too many of the birds finished. Now I just need to decide on the 4-5 colors to use. Hrm.
No progress:
- Market Skirt
- Crepe Dress
- Tote bag
- Art kit
- Cape
- New blog banner embroidery
- In the Night Kitchen embroidery
My Totals:
Completed Projects: 0
New Projects: 3
Currently in Progress Projects: 13
February is looking to be a record-setting month for finished projects! I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced. Head over and see what everyone else is up to.
You have been busy! I'm doing some hourglasses too and they seriously are taking forever! definitely not a quick quilt. Yours look gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I found that making the small hour glass blocks in assembly line worked the best and fastest. I needed 144 of them!
DeleteYou've been working like crazy! Good luck with all your projects! I particularly like the bird you're embroidering for the charity auction-- it's so lovely! As far as joining two balls of yarn, the traditional approach is just to, when you've got 6" or so left on your first ball, tie your new ball onto the old string and begin using the new one. That leaves you with two ends to block, though (the end of the old ball and the beginning of the new ball, that you've tied on), so I prefer to felt the ends together. To do that, you just use small scissors to shave down the last 2-3" of your ball of yarn to about half its normal thickness, and then shave the same length at the very beginning of your new ball of yarn. Then you can wet both ends, lay them together, and rub them really vigorously between your hands. They sort of felt together and you can knit continuously from one ball to the next!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, pro knitter!
DeleteI'm crocheting right now, but the theory still applies. The baby blanket I'm working on has 3 separate joins that I have to address! I hate having to weave the excess through, I haven't figured out a way to truly mask it. This is a great idea!
DeleteYour hourglass quilt blocks are beautiful! Your grandmother is sure to love that! My cousin and I just finished a two sided quilt for our grandma's 82nd birthday. Now we are getting started on one for our grandpa, he turns 90 in July.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! (I found your site through the Freshly Pieced link up.)
Thanks for stopping by! Good luck on your grandpa's quilt. I suggest starting way earlier than you think you'll need!
DeleteWow! You quilt, you sew, you embroider, and you knit! Unbelievable!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your grandmother's quilt, what a wonderful project. I'm sure it will be ready on time (and beautiful too!)
I know, I have crafting/sewing ADD. It works out though because I can use my train rides for the portable crafts like embroidery and knitting and then use all of my at-home free time for sewing. I need to stop starting so many projects at once though! Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteYou're making some really things:)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I appreciate you stopping by.
DeleteThat hourglass quilt is going to be stunning! I love how the Joel Dewberry fabrics work in those blocks! No doubt that the amount of time you're putting into this one will show in the end!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda Beth! I have loved the Aviary 2 line ever since it came out but didn't allow myself to buy any until I had a project in mind. I'm so glad I chose to use it for the whole quilt. It's going to look awesome!
Deletethe jacket fits so well. xx hi!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh I am a huge fan of yours! Thank you so much for stopping by! I was pleased with the fit of the Minoru even though I didn't end up putting the elastic in. I should be able to get back to working on it next week!
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