Starting out 2017

Well the trees are down and the ornaments packed up. the Christmas quilts are packed away and my design wall and bulletin boards are clear. However, I am not ready to start any sewing because my sewing room is, not really a mess, but full of stuff that should go to the basement.

Monday will see the start of a big basement waterproofing project. Though the basement has never
had a water/flood problem it is damp and they want to make it damp proof and that involves a very big waterproofing project. After that all the existing walls will be coming  down and everything will be changed. So for awhile I have extra stuff in  my sewing room.  I just can't see myself dealing with moving everything around in order to sew or cut.

I do have a finish, kind of. It really isn't my own project. My granddaughter in law started this tote bag close to 3 years ago. I think it was before they were even engaged.

We were having some quilting lessons and after piecing a few blocks she wanted to make something she would finish and actually use. I'm beleive the lime green batik was her own fabric; she chose the black batik and the cat print from my stash. I came across this when I was putting Christmas things away and it was all finished except for sewing on the straps and the binding around the top. I decided to finish it because we have not had another lesson in all that time and I don't see one in the near (or maybe even distant)future. 

Maybe this is the time to get out my BIG UFO that I started in 2000. I have not worked on it for a very long time because it is hand quilted.  My hands are not really good for hand quilting anymore but most of the quilting inside the borders is finished. If I can get that done I can do the borders on the machine as it is all in the ditch quilting.

There are overlapping circles in the sashings and concentric circles in the center of the blocks but there are not too many of those left to do. 

 It would be so nice to finish this. I am sure it will be slow going and my stitches won't be as small as the ones that are already there. That just doesn't seem so important anymore.

I am pretty sure I know where my Q-Snap frame is and I just now looked to see where the quilt is stashed. I am going to give it a try.








I am quite sure my friend Lucy will be keeping me company.






She likes to get right up on my sewing table and settle down where she can watch what I am doing.




I really don't continue to sew when she gets that close. I know what it feels like to put a machine needle through my  paw finger.

My big UFO project

This is my big UFO that has been hanging around since 2000. The first year  I was in the Friendship Group I saw this quilt at a local quilt shop. It was part of a trunk show and I wish I could tell you who the designer is but I can't find the pattern.

 I asked the shop owner if she thought I could ask the group to make this block for me when my month to present a block came up. (I knew I would never make all these blocks myself)

 She said "sure".  I  am surprised that they are still my friends. It is a 12 inch block  and I asked for 2 blocks, that is the limit for a 12 inch block. I asked for as many different  fabrics as possible in each block. I said would be happy to have any extra Hourglass blocks or small squares for the connector corners. This was  pretty labor intensive and I would not have asked for it  had I been in the group longer and realized the time it took to pick out the fabrics and make the block. They are all busy people but everyone came through and no one quit.

The finished top was 83 inches square and that is too  big for me to machine quilt so I started hand quilting. I have 15 of the wheel or fortune blocks done with the surrounding 3 inch sashing and the secondary pattern where the sashings come together with the 4 patch cornerstones.

There are 25 Wheel of Fortune Blocks and 20 secondary blocks. I am too far along to quit and not far enough to feel encouraged that the end is in sight. I remember that I always think I am almost done when I get to the border but the border always takes as long if not longer than the body of the quilt.
I am quilting in the ditch along most of the straight lines with concentric circles in the center of the WOF blocks and 3 overlapping circles in the rectangles in the center of the sashing. I realized a couple of years ago that it is like sewing every single seam a  second time and then some.
Oh well.......................................................

I started out quilting in my Q-Snap PVC pipe frame but that is not very accessible right now having been put in our locker with a bunch of things blocking it. I will get it out  when we take our Christmas things out next month. In the meantime I have set up my oval  floor frame which is smaller but it is working well; the quilt is all  over the floor at this point but that is not a big problem.

I told my daughter in law and son that they could have this quilt when it is done so I really would like to be able to give it to them.