Progress is continuing on my Magnolia Mystery. It's slow, but it's certainly progress!
I got out my cute white Featherweight 221K called "Sweet Baby Jayne". It's such a joy to sew on this machine but I worry about wearing her out. However, I also do not want her to spend her whole life in a dark closet with no attention at all. So on special occasions, I treat myself to a sewing session. Her stitch is lovely and her sound is soft and sweet.
There are 3 different block patterns to sew for this step of the mystery and I made a sample of each block. However I sewed one of the sample blocks incorrectly, so right from the start I was using the seam ripper. The correct blocks have the paper notes pinned on, and the wrong block is under the seam ripper. It has since been dismantled! All the block components needed to sew the required number of blocks are now ready to mass assemble. Progress should be much faster now...fingers crossed!
Over the weekend I sewed some blocks for the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild.
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| 4 donation blocks |
They are collecting blocks and making quilts for
the victims and first responders of the mass shooting there one month ago. I heard about their block collection from Julie who blogs over at Julie's Quilts. To see the beautiful donation quilt she made - click here.
The block pattern they are requesting is from the tutorial for "Greyscale Quilt" which can be found over at Cluck, Cluck, Sew. The hardest part was figuring out the cutting instructions to make the A blocks and the B blocks. But once that was done, the sewing was really enjoyable.
It made me smile to notice that one of my fabric choices matched my little scissors! What are the chances of that?!?
While sewing the first blocks, I heard on the news about another mass shooting, this time in Texas. I just kept on sewing. We also had a shooting in my quiet little neighbourhood this past week, and thankfully no one was injured. What else can a quilter do about these tragedies, but sew, and make quilts to comfort those affected by the violence?
These blocks will go in the mailbox tomorrow to hopefully arrive before the deadline of November 15th.
To see more design wall posts, hop over to Small Quilts.
Last night we turned our clocks back one hour because it is the end of Daylight Saving Time. Which only means that we all get one extra hour of time. Well, we don't really, but we delude ourselves into thinking this is a real thing. The sun is not actually taking one hour longer to rotate around the earth today.
But don't we all talk about wanting more time to get things done?
What did you do with the "extra hour" you were given this weekend? I would like to say that I used the extra hour for hand stitching, but truthfully I just slept longer!
Today I will be working on more alternate blocks for my Life Is Beautiful quilt. Here are the 6 that I've quilted so far.
When starting to quilt my latest block, I noticed that the sandwich felt quite thick in the middle. I unpinned the block and separated the layers, and realized that I had forgotten to cut away the fabric circle behind the applique. Why didn't I notice that when I was pin basting the block??!
So I cut away the excess fabric behind the appliqued circle, re-basted the sandwich, and started again.
I can't really blame it on sleep deprivation since I had a whole extra hour of sleep!
What are you hand stitching today?
We don't want to know what your sewing machine is working on. Here at Slow Sunday Stitching we are "old school" and want to know about "your people power" projects which involve only your needles, threads, scissors, and your very own hands.
An InLinkz Link-up
I have been keeping up with the Magnolia Mystery from Meadow Mist Designs. One step is posted each month, so it's a slow and easy pace. And I'm using up fabric leftover from my Swoon quilt, and the backing trimmings from my Tetris quilt, so it's a win/win situation.
Here are my pieces from step #1 and #2. I haven't trimmed down the HST blocks yet. I will do it because I know I will be happier with the accuracy of the finished blocks. But it is such a tedious job and I have to be "in the mood" for it. So that trimming job is waiting for the mood to arrive!
Meanwhile, the next step was posted yesterday and these pieces are going to be made into flower units, so I am excited to get going on that this weekend.
Happy Friday!
I love Best Press Spray and use it often, especially on small blocks with many pieces. I like how it makes blocks lay flat and look crisp, and yet it doesn't leave any white starchy residue on the fabric.
I bought the new product with a lavender and thyme scent, which has a "wrinkle releaser" (whatever that is!) I was surprised to find that I do not like it! The scent is so strong that one spritz on the fabric being ironed makes the whole sewing room smell. I much prefer the regular lavender scented spray, which is soft and understated. I think I will add just a few drops of the new spray into a bottle of unscented Best Press so I can use it up over time/thyme!
Happy Halloween!
This is one of the pumpkins carved at my house this year. If you are a "Finding Nemo" fan, you will recognize this classic "good feelings gone" scene. It's my marine biologist daughter's favourite movie, hence the angler fish pumpkin!
It's trick or treat day... time for costumes and candy!
It's also the last day of the month, so for OMG quilters, it's time for either bragging or fessing up.
I'll be fessing up!
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| 4 blocks quilted |
In spite of working really hard to finish before the end of the month, my October UFO did not get finished. I knew that it was a lofty goal to piece a backing, pin baste the quilt sandwich, machine quilt the whole thing on my domestic sewing machine, and bind the quilt within one month. But sometimes you have to aim high, so I did!
And then you have to accept that sometimes you can't meet your lofty/unrealistic goals in spite of your best efforts, so I am!
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| quilt back |
Each block is being quilted differently, which is a lot of starting and stopping. Some blocks are quilted with straight lines and some are free motion designs.
I have quilted 7 of the 12 blocks, so am more than half way done with the quilting.
In November I hope to quilt the remaining 5 blocks, and finish the binding on the quilt.
I will be linking up to One Monthly Goal.
