In my last post, All Aboard!, I expressed my concern about how fast time is traveling by. Locomotive fast, one day it is August, and the next September! I blink a few times and the month is gone!
With the non-abundance of time in the continuum, I am relishing my extra day off. Gosh I love labor day! Thank you teamsters for making Labor day possible. I realize if it was not for you, I would sure to be overworked by twice the hours and 1/2 the pay.
This weekend I set the following goals for the week:
- Practice more with the versa tool
- Research options for more rulers, for curves that perhaps are bigger with inside and outside curves.
- Finish the 81 patches and sew the stars to have a completed top
- Oil, grease, and clean my 221
- Enjoy my extra day off, Happy Labor Day to me! And to you too!
Two developments may have my plans derailed!
I sewed three more 81 patches, as I thought this would get all the stars incorporated, every other block. Well, guess what, I think I had some of my pile in the other room, so the number stands at 7 more 81 patches, YIKES! Eighty-one times 7 is a gob of pieces! A gob of fabric being pulled from the stash, ironed, cut, and a few pieces used in each block. This goal may or may not be successful, but I am on my way. I am sew excited about this quilt, and how it will look once it is a top, curiosity has got me intrigued enough to keep me going through the thick of it.
I am enjoying my extra day off, and have had an idea percolating in my brain for a while, but never seem to kick the brain in gear at the right time to make it come to fruition. When I am at the longarm, I lay by scissors down, or press the locker down to keep the machine from creeping, or lay the wound bobbins all the way across the garage on the bench. And then I start stitching at the front of the machine go to clip my threads and have to walk all the way back around the other side because they are out of reach. (I do have a retractable scissors and forget to put those on before I start so I have to walk around to the other side, regardless)
I decided long ago I needed to make a longarm caddy, but wherever I could carry that, it would probably be out of reach. Then I got the idea, why not an apron.
Let’s back track a minute. One of my goals is to research rulers for the quilting machine. I was on pinterest viewing many samples of ruler work, and then all of a sudden in my feed showed up an apron. The lightbulb of moments happened, the Longarm Apron was born.
This was a quick project of less than an hour. And it will work wonderfully for me, as long as I load it up before I start work at the machine. I love the cuteness and utilitarian/upcycle craftiness of it all. Easy, fast, and will have much use.
When I cut the rear pockets off my old wranglers, I left the rear part of the pocket in tact, in case I drop my scissors into them and that way I have an added layer of protection so they will not poke me. The accent fabric I got a Hobby Lobby off the clearance for $2 per yard this spring. I cut about 7 strips into 2 1/2 inch by width of fabric. I sewed two together for the belt. Pressed each raw edge to the middle, and then folded it one more time. This will tie in the back, some of you skinny quilters could probably get by with tying it in the front. The pleated ruffle is three strips, less part of that last trip. I slowly pleated this as I sewed it, all this is, 2 1/2 inch wide fabric pressed in half, pleated to the right side of the denim, and then flipped to the wrong side and stitched down. It is leaving plenty of raw edge and not really a finished edge on the inside. I suppose as an afterthought I could have done that part differently.
I had to make sure to keep as much pocket power as possible, so I took the existing front pockets and pulled them outward while I was sewing because I did not want to turn an hour project into an hour of sewing, and a ripping session, with another hour of sewing. I also did this for applying the rear pockets to the front. You could dress this simple apron up and make it fancy. You could even embroider on it sewing related/cooking related things.
I am pleased as punch how this turned out!
This was just derail number one. Derail number two……for years I have wanted to learn the art of Bobbin Lace. For those of you who are not familiar with this craft, this is how lace was made before the industrial revolution, it was all made by hand. It is fascinating to watch, and now I have acquired some supplies that I may dally in this new hobby this week. The internet is my teacher. I look forward to sharing what I have made and it will probably be simple at first and gradually grow I hope into pieces I can put into a quilt block or doilies, or both!
Here is the magic, via youtube. Look at her go!
I have the cookie pillow and the wooden bobbins (all free by the way via my card points and my rewards from work). I never really wanted to be out that kind of money and then not like it. So a bookmark may happen this week, we shall see.
And I have practiced more with the versa tool. I will be practicing more, but it is a slow process that I want to be faster at. I craved the speed so much I started ditching the ruler work for just free motion on the jelly roll race quilt I made using the Terrarium fabric line by Elizabeth Hartman. I must say that I was not thrilled by the color scheme, but now that I am quilting it, it really pops. The jelly roll was less than $20 (yes I watch my sales), and will probably be a donation as the backing was more $2 per yard fabric at Hobby Lobby. I will have less than 30 dollars in this quilt, YES!
Continuous line stars, easy.
The first line of the quilt above is making m’s for the span of the strip. Then I came back with my curved ruler, and made the rest of the heart, unintentional but worked well together.
Some leaves as well as some script, sleep well!
Pebbles is a lot of work and I do not recommend it if you are in a hurry for your project finish. I certainly love the texture this gives, and since the line is terrarium, perfectly incorporated I do believe.
Hopefully I will be back at this soon. Enjoying the days, I decide when to wake up, when to eat, what to sleep, no borders of alarms or deadlines of starts or stops, life is more fluid for me when I am off and have the freedom to chose what and when. It is truly wonderful!
I am gearing up for National Sew a Jelly Roll day, that is coming this month. So many projects, so little time. Now I am off to give my little featherweight a day at the spa, she needs cleaned and oiled. Perhaps I will add a bit of wax too to make her bling again.
…..almost time to go back to the grind. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!
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