Saturday, April 28, 2007

A busy weekend

This is a very busy weekend quilting-wise. The weather is beautiful so I should be outside working on the garden, but I have too many things with deadlines.

Last night was our quarterly North Start Quilters "Sew Frenzy". We meet at the church at 6:30, have a potluck dinner, then supposedly sew until midnight. Never make it that late LOL, but usually stay until about 11:00. Last night was "quilters choice" in that we could work on whatever we wanted to work on. Most of us worked on Hotel Hope projects, including me. I finished a dozen more string blocks, and the box looks fuller than it did when I started! I think those things multiply in the dark of night!

This morning I had to have Shadow at the groomers at 8:00 so it was a short night. I sat in the car working on Joseph's quilt. Usually it takes about 90 minutes but today they'd overbooked so it was almost 3 hours! It got REALLY hot in the car but I refused to leave - I knew if I did so I'd head right to the quilt shop down the street! So Saturday morning coffee with my daughter was more like noon time coffee, but at least I got another block finished. This one represents the kids' cat Mara, named after Luke Skywalker's wife. I couldn't find a gold and white fabric I liked so I compromised with this. At least it has her pink nose! (In her portrait Mara is laying on the quilt I made for Rebecca when she went off for college. She picked out the colors and fabrics - her tastes are very different from mine.)

This afternoon I'm going to fuse the rest of the sashing pieces and the sun block for this quilt. All that will leave is the handwork before I can stitch it all together. I really like how it is turning out!
I need to get a UFO done this weekend also so I don't have to pay a penalty at guild on Thursday. I thought I could quickly finish quilting the one on the longarm but I ran into problems. It's a round robin that I'd hoped to have quilted for Easter - that didn't happen! Unfortunately the person who added the four large triangles when she put the center on point didn't measure too well. Two of them quilted beautifully but the other two are WAY too full. If I quilted them this way there's be tucks all over that part of the quilt. So I took it off the machine so I could carefully take out a couple seams and take the fullness out of the pieces. I'll have to stitch it back up carefully by hand because all the borders outside the triangles are already quilted. My goal is to finish that tonight so I can get it back on the machine tomorrow morning and finish the quilting. That will leave only the binding and the label - which I hope won't take too long. I have four charity quilts to quilt for guild too, and I'd like to get at least one of those done before Thursday.

I also have a mess all over my sewing room - yes, I really do! It's not that bad a mess as messes go, but it's driving me nuts. Too many things to put away from too many projects. Hopefully I can get that done tonight too. Never a dull moment I guess!

12 comments:

Libby said...

Oh you are strong *s* I would have been at that quilt shop in a heartbeat.

Tanya said...

Thanks for that advice on the Wonky Word quilt. I'll give it some serious thought this week!
Mara is a beauty!
I've never worked on a Round Robin quilt but from reading other people's experience it sounds like a lot of work! Still you have fun? You sound way more productive than I ever am. All those charity quilts too! Good for you! Have a good sewing day!

Leigh said...

I love both these quilts lots.
Your medallion is giving you the same trouble as I am having with mine. It will lovely when it is done though:-)

Rose Johnston said...

Your medallion is lovely!!!....i adore the kitty block...u definelty had a productive weekend (i would have ducked into the quilt shop!!!)

YankeeQuilter said...

The kitty block is purrr-fecct!

(sorry couldn't help myself!)

Carol E. said...

Beautiful cat, and the cat block is adorable.

The Calico Cat said...

Cute kitty & kitty block!

Elaine Adair said...

Love your quilt-y version of your kitty! Looks just like her.

Elaine Adair said...

Also, your Rosewood Cottage is amazing - gorgeous!

Judy said...

You have to make the most even hand blanket stitch I have ever seen! Really, super job!

The Chicken Lady said...

What an adorable kitty. The block turned out really cute too. I love the fabric you used. And the bunny garden quilt turned out very cute. Hey, just count it early for NEXT Easter! :)

Jenni said...

She is a pretty little cat. Nice to be immortalised in a quilt!