Not sewing today

I'm not sewing today.  Instead we are enjoying our friend's wedding. And all the socializing that comes with a group that doesn't see each other often. Getting a chance to visit and meet new friends.

I packed a couple of projects to work on later in the trip.  The Bonnie quilt I've chosen will be the

Sister's nine patch. Can't show a picture as it is all still packed in the van.

Linking up with Jo for the first day of the challenge. Jo's linky

Engage Hyper Drive. Full Speed Ahead!

Or something like that.

I have been working at top speed this week, so fast…how fast? Fast enough not to have time to come on here and whine about it.

But the end of the tunnel, horizon, whatever, is in sight.

Wedding quilt: Done. Washed, labelled, hanging out to dry

Shades of Black quilt:  Quilted, binding ready

Last minuet baby quilt for BIL’s godson’s baby: pieced.

All the unfinished stuff is coming with us on the road to be worked on evenings as we travel. Which means a sewing centre to be packed, in addition to the formal clothes for the wedding, warm clothes for the inclement weather we are bound to run into. Boots, coats, etc.

I wouldn’t be so frantic if we were leaving tomorrow as originally planned, however DH and a friend hatched a plan for us to stop and overnight tonight with the friends, leaving together tomorrow for Ottawa. So back to packing.

I Changed my mind….

 

and the new one works much better, thanks.

I spent the morning today waiting for my DD2 to have day surgery. As this was a planned event I had time to prep some sewing and printed off some more diamonds. However, I printed some different colours this time and tried a new arrangement.  Despite all the positive comments, I still wasn’t satisfied with the way the stars were going together. The slight offset was off-putting to me. So I’m mixing solid colours in with the print

 

Really like the purple.  And I think I will do a “Seven Sisters” block. Maybe four of them. We’ve got another road trip coming up so I have lots of hand sewing time.

 

 

Another change was the quilt I was doing for our friend’s wedding. I really wasn’t satisfied with the choice. While sitting sewing this morning I had lots of thinking time which helped me identify what was wrong with it. I wanted to make him a quilt full of boats and sailing theme fabrics. He’s an avid sailor and I wanted to acknowledge that in his gift. Once home I started fresh on a pattern I had flagged in the spring. It is in Pat Sloan’s book What a novel Idea.

This is only half way, there is another chevron on the sewing table but this is full of boats, flags and the white has sea shells. Much better.

And I changed the orientation of my sewing machine. Now I have closer access to the design wall and don’t have to reach over the machine.

It seems to be working better. But I’m sure there is a more effective way to arrange this room, I just haven’t found it yet.

Distractions

I’ve had a few this week. Enough to keep me from finishing anything on my “to do” list. So as much as I wanted a finish to show off, I don’t have one.

One of the things distracting me was a property we found for sale that seemed to fit our downsizing plans. Much time was spent looking on google street view and talking it over before setting up an appointment to view. Then Saturday we had our view and still more talking going on. No sewing involved in this.

Although if we do get this, I will have an awesome sewing room.

Another distraction was sewing related. I’ve know about Inklingo for a while and even have the shapes collection but haven’t used it. Then Linda started showing pictures of the Kaleidoscope Stars. Check them out here if you haven’t seen what she’s doing Inklingo - Kaleidoscope Stars.   So I’ve been working on printing out the diamonds and sewing them when I can fit in some hand sewing. (Like sitting waiting for the Kaffe Fasset lecture). My printing needs some work, well actually it would be the cutting out of the fabric to be printed upon. I didn’t get it lined up in exactly the same spot every time for all six sheets. So this is what my stars look like

Just a little off.  But once I’ve mastered the technique I will repeat with the fabric I really wanted to use.

Butterflies

 

 

So today I am linking up with Quilter Kathy for Slow Stitching Sunday. I will be sewing more of the practise stars in the van on the way to Burlington this afternoon.

Oh What an exciting night

This rates right up there with meeting Bonnie Hunter.

I did get tickets to the Kaffe Fasset lecture. I bought two and was going to take DH since he is so involved and interested in my quilting endeavours. However, he suggested that I invite his father, who has a great interest in colour and  fabric and even has as one of his prized possessions a Pantone colour book.  I thought this would be great and gave them a call. Some how, I wound  up with my mother in law coming  instead.  She was very excited and called back several minutes later to tell me she had found his Glorious Knitting book on her shelves. She had forgotten she had it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great time. He gave a fascinating talk, only showed the two quilts, everything else was by slide show.  And then to top it off, I won a door prize.

So thanks Jayne, for encouraging me to go. I was almost going to pass on this.

How to lose half a day without even trying hard..

Pintrest !!!.  That’s how.  It is always with good intentions, of course we know where they led.  I thought I’d just look for a few pictures of Double Irish Chain quilts to see if anyone had ever put a border on one.  Several hours later, the answer was “yes”. And at least a dozen ideas on how to do it.  Plus ideas for other quilts.

It’s a wonder I managed to get any sewing done. At least I got myself to my mani-pedi appointment on time.

And I got all the Easy ST blocks sewn into rows plus the first three rows sewn together.  And of course that means more pink blocks done.

  

 

 

 

 

 

One more row on this then I’ll border it.

Back at it again

 

I did step away from the machines and get some housework done and we had a lovely time with our friends. Although I think I might have been a little over caffeinated most of the time, I was jumping around pretty hyper like. So now back at it again with the addition of a new commission to add into the worksheet. this one is for two boys quilts for bunk beds. On the plus side, she doesn’t want them until December, lots of time.  Since I don’t have to start them yet, I’ve been working on getting Easy Street together.

This is at the half way point.  Don’t know if it is obvious, but the last row is laying about 3 inches on the floor, my basting wall being not quite tall enough. Should be a great time getting this one basted, going to have to lay it on the living room floor I think.

For leaders and enders while I sew the rows together, I’ve been doing a scrappy/pink Irish Chain.  This has two purposes. One is as a sample for a client who wants a pink/white baby quilt and also to give to a co-worker of my husband who just had a baby girl.

I keep dithering on whether to make it 3 X 4 or go bigger. Mostly because I don’t think I’ve seen a border on an Irish Chain and without one it would only be 30” across, a little small.  Then again, Easy St. makes everything look small, maybe 30 X 40 is big enough.  I’ll just keep sewing blocks while putting Easy together and see what I get.