February Goal Accomplished

I wasn't sure I would be able to accomplish my goal this month with the house in such a mess and the sewing room packed up and stored in the garage.

Everything is getting more disorganized and sawdust covered every day!

But, progress is actually being made.  Only a few more days and I should be able to start cleaning and moving things back into all the bedrooms and the Sewing Room.  I doubt I will be able to convince Hubby that the Sewing Room is the top priority though, when we have been sleeping on a mattress on the Living Room floor for the last 18 nights!   This is what the Sewing Room looks like this morning --

It will be so nice when everything is back where it belongs, and I can find my sewing machine again.  (Errr, I mean, when I can start cooking in that mess of a kitchen again!)  That quilt in the background is covering a big pile of "stuff" and the bathroom (on the left) is completely full of fabric, etc. packed in plastic bags!  When I saw how much fabric I have I decided I'd better start putting out more quilts than I have been.  My stash looks like a lot less when it is stacked neatly in cabinets!

My February goal with A Lovely Year of Finishes was goal #135, and I am happy to report that I did, indeed, finish it!  I basted and hand-quilted my QRC quilt.

Still not ready to reveal the message, though.  It needs binding first.  I just hope I can get to my sewing machine before the end of March!

I am linking up with the February Finishes Party -- at Fibre of All Sorts.  Can't wait to see who else made their goal this month!

Progress on February Goals

The hardwood is all down in the Sewing Room, and needs to be stained and finished.  All four of the rooms in progress should be completed in about four or five more days.  I would call that progress.  Well, technically I guess it's not my progress, it's the carpenters' progress.  I'm still excited, though.

I have made some other progress of my own.   I basted my little QRC Wall-hanging and started hand-quilting it.  

I wanted all my seams to look this good.  This accurate.

I pinned so carefully and stitched so very slowly through the seam intersections, but sometimes I could still feel things slip just a little bit, and I ended up with a few results like this.........

I was so tired of ripping out and reworking that I finally decided to let the precision slide a little.  After all, from a galloping horse at 50 paces it will look just fine.  However, around the 23rd row (out of 25) I found myself wishing I had a machine with dual feed.  Aarrgghh!!!  What???  Isn't that what my WALKING FOOT is for?!?!?!?   Well, it's too late now..........

February Goal for "A Lovely Year of Finishes"

I accomplished my January goal with time to spare, but this month's goal is going to be a real challenge.  Not only is this a short month, but the flooring company is here today ripping up carpets and putting down hardwood in three bedrooms AND my sewing studio.  The entire process will take about three weeks which won't leave a lot of time for putting things back together or for getting any sewing done.  This is what my sewing room looks like right now.....

Tonight it will be empty and tomorrow the carpet will be ripped out.   

I did want to get something done in February, though, so I decided to finish the little wallhanging I started in December.  This is my February goal.

I'm pretty sure I can get it basted and hand-quilted this month, but I am not sure about the binding since all my sewing machines are packed away somewhere in all this stuff!

In case you can't tell that is my breakfast area.

I am linking up with Fiber of All Sorts for their ALYOF February Goal setting party.   Since I have been packing and helping Hubby move furniture for the last two evenings, I hope I have the energy to actually work on my goal!

January Finish -- Aidan's Quilt

For a while there I was beginning to think I was not going to finish my January goal, but I am out of my sick bed and have been able to spend a few days in my sewing room. I am so glad.  I didn't want to get behind in my very first month of A Lovely Year of Finishes!  

In my last post I told you about getting the backing made for Aidan's Alabama quilt and then getting it basted.  That was actually my goal for January, but I really hoped to get it quilted and bound as well.  I quilted the main part of the quilt with a variegated black/gray/white thread using a medium stipple.

When I got to the border I decided to switch to crimson for the quilting thread, and when I saw how good it looked I wished I had used it for the entire quilt.  Shortly after I started, I quilted across one of the Alabama A's.  I didn't like it.

From then on I was really careful to go around them, and I am very happy to report than only 2 more A's were sacrificed in the making of this quilt! 

I have to tell you that the going was not all that easy this week.  As you know, it's best to clean and oil your machine and change your needle before every new project.  This is NOT the result you want!

That's a little too much oil.  But that's what happens when the lid to your oil bottle is broken and it falls off when you are trying to put a tiny dot of oil in your machine!

I don't keep paper towels or rags in my sewing room, but there was plenty of toilet paper in the bathroom.

Everything went smoothly after that until I was clipping threads ......... and snipped a tiny little hole in the quilt!   I don't know if you can see it; the pin is pointed at the hole.  I think you can see it in the close-up.

Thinking it would shred during machine washings, I had to repair it.  I opened the seams on either side of it to appliqué a little piece of black over the hole.  Since the quilting was in the way I had to put the patch diagonally across the sashing.  You can really barely see it so I am very relieved.

Yesterday I got the binding on it, and last night I finished stitching it down.  I slept under it last night (a fun tradition I have!) and now it is ready to give to Aidan.

I really like this quilt a lot.  I know it will be well-loved, and that's really the best part of the whole thing.

I'm linking up to the FINISHES PARTY at Fiber of All Sorts and then I am going to see what everyone else accomplished this month.  My goal was entry #148.

A Super Sewing Sunday

I spent almost all day on quilty stuff today!  The first thing I worked on was basting Aidan's quilt.   Before we moved here we had a huge finished basement with stained concrete floors which were great for basting a quilt.   Sadly, there isn't an easy place to baste in this house.   I tried laying things out in the living room this morning, but I couldn't get the backing stretched out flat.  No matter how I tugged and pulled and pinned, there were puckers and pleats in the backing.  It was really frustrating.  Finally, I stripped our king-sized bed and laid out the backing, batting and quilt top on it.  For some reason it worked great!  I was able to pin baste, then roll the quilt up as I worked.  

I made some progress on a UFO today -- the black and white wallhanging I started right before Christmas. 

  

I got more than half of the rows finished today.  I don't know it it's harder than it looks or it was just me, but I made 8 rows before I finished one without having to rip!

I always thought I was a pretty accurate piecer, but working with black and white makes it difficult to hide any imperfection!

I hope it doesn't make any difference to the QRC Reader.  If it does, I'll just turn it over and use the back as the front.  I actually think its way cooler. 

Progress on Aidan's Quilt

I honestly thought I would have Aidan's quilt finished by now, but spending nearly three weeks in bed with an upper respiratory infection does not make it easy to accomplish anything.  The few times I did have a tiny bit of energy I used it to either throw in a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher, or take a shower.   Today, was the first time I was able to get into the sewing room in well over a month.  It was a treat!

I used all the fabrics I had left over from the front, both Alabama prints and the houndstooth, then added a red blender and a black/white print from my stash to make the backing.   It's about 77" by 86" at this point, plenty big enough.  Next up -- basting!!