August Accomplishments

1. Camera Strap
2. Wonder Wallet
3. Bound a quilt for Linda
4. Made 2+4 Moda Blocks & Assembled the Quilt Top
5. Quilted a Charity Quilt for Sherry
6. 3 Notions Bags
7. Tag along bag for Diane
8. Made about 16 Moda U blocks for the 2009/2010 Shop Sample
9. 9 Degree Christmas Tree Skirt
10. Finished my Courier Bag
11. Quilted and bound the Mock Bargello
12. Made myself a Tag Along Bag
13. A cute little Draw String Bag
14. Tag Along for a Shop Sample
15. 2 Watch Bands
16. A Craptastic Lunch Bag for my Mom (I’ll be making a replacement)
17. Taught 2 Paper Piecing Classes and felt victorious!!
18. Pieced, Quilted and Bound the Falling Leaves paper pieced wall hanging.
19. Made a Bracelet
20. Quilted a table runner for my mom
21. Another Watch Band
22. Sewed 144 “In & Out” blocks for my Bistro Quilt.
23. A Pillow Case and a Tote Bag for my mom’s Birthday
24. A Quilted Notebook Wrap aka “Adult Trapper Keeper” for my Mom.
25. Had the Funniest Baking Mishap EVER!!
26. Finally, a fabulous Oil Cloth Lunch Bag
27. Medium Sized Tote Bag

Dang!  I got a lot of really cool things made.  It seems as if it was the month of the Bag…  The only disappointment is that I didn’t work on many UFO’s.  I’m going to allow myself to start a new quilt or two in September, but at the same time I’d like to get at least two of my larger quilt tops assembled and ready for quilting.

Uh, I guess I have a lot of tote bag fabrics...

So I quilted a few smaller pieces to make into tote bags since I was trying to troubleshoot some issues with my machine. I've already turned one of them into a tote bag.

I know, I know, just how many tote bags does one person need? They are all cuts of fabric that I bought just to make tote bags so they're all 5/8 cuts so now I'm kinda locked into making them. I guess I kept accumulating and never really realized how many I had fabric purchased for. Had I made a few, I would have realized I didn't need to buy more fabrics! I might have a few Etsy items ready to list if I really make all the tote bags that I have fabric for. Sigh. When will I learn?

I also quilted another quilt on my frame and started a baby quilt on it too. I was up till 4:30am because I was so frustrated and just wanted to finish. My poor Babylock. It needs some TLC at the shop. I just need to get it out there.

I overcame the Oil Cloth Lunch Bag!!!

Remember all the ripping I did earlier in the week? I finally got that quilt back on the frame and finished it. I've never been so happy to get a quilt off the frame before in my life. The binding is on and it's just awaiting hand stitching. That quilt was a nightmare and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's my machine, maybe it's a different batting, maybe it's cause I was so stressed out by the ripping. I don't know.

Once that was done, I started on my lunch bag. It turned out so well that I'll be making a new one for my Mom. Then we can get rid of that awful zippered, stiff, poor excuse for a bag!! This one just has one layer of oil cloth and then I used an orange cotton fabric on the inside and I just pinked the edges instead of doing a french seam. I also added velcro along the top.

With one more week to go in the Waun-a-quilt UFO challenge I better stop working on new projects and cross a few more UFO's off my list. Now that I don't seem so overwhelmed by the amount of UFO's that I have, I am actually pretty excited about continuing to work on them even once the challenge is over. There is light at the end of this tunnel!!

ETPWP and Birthday Celebrations

Tonight was the last ETPWP (Evil Twins Patched Works Party) because Jen V is leaving the shop. Looks like I'm going to have to come up with a new name. Hmmmmm, I'll come up with something I'm sure.

It seems however that the true Evil Twins are actually Linda and my Mom who share the 28th as their Birthday. To go with the princess cake that didn't happen they decided they needed to dress up for the event...

Yep, not only were there feathers on their tiara's and around their necks, they also had hair combs with additional feathers.

It was Joyce's Birthday a few months back but we hadn't gotten to properly celebrate so they gave her a feathered tiara too...

Our group of 13 did tons and tons of laughing. I really don't think any of us really got a whole lot accomplished...but that's ok!!

Baking Mishap

Thursday night after work and after a nap, I headed to my Mom's to sew and make her Birthday cake. We'll cover the sewing part first because otherwise you'll laugh so hard at the cake that you'll miss the rest.

I finished the Notebook Wrap for my Mom. Got the binding hand sewed down.

I LOVE it!! I may have to make myself a Sock Monkey one too. It's just so darn cute!!!! Now onto the Baking Mishap...

Here's how it started. I was flipping through old blogs on Cake Wrecks and ran across a funny picture:

Now, since I always make Mom a Red Velvet Cake, I first thought Scarlet O'Hara Cake since my mom LOVES the movie Gone With The Wind. Then I was thinking. Rhett Butler gave Mammy a red crinoline...how funny would THAT be? So I pulled out my Pampered Chef 8-Cup glass measuring bowl, looked up online how to bake said cake and moved along with life.

It seemed easy to me. Cake in the bowl. Bowl in the oven. 55 minutes. Flip out, frost, stick a plastic doll in. Done.

Oh how wrong I was.

After the 55 minutes I pulled it out and the center was still raw. I thought...hmmm, another 10 minutes isn't going to do much but what the heck. And 10 minutes after that it was still raw. At this point, it was pulling away from the edges. The out side was definitely done. Very done. At this point, what did I have to lose? The cake was already a loss. I just stuck it in for longer to see if that middle would ever firm up. And it didn't...

The center of the cake actually was hot enough to do a rolling boil right in front of my eyes.

Serious raw nastiness... I did some more google searching on the barbie cake and found one little comment about how a lady tried baking it at 200 degrees for 2-1/2 hours and that actually worked for her. I didn't have that kind of time at this point.

Poor, poor sad little cake.

I think my Mom's look says it all...this was snapped when I told her to make her own dang birthday cake! Giggle.

I think this goes down in history as the worst baking experience ever.

Quilted Notebooks

On Wednesday night after work I went to my Mom's and we worked on quilted notebooks. I was making her a sock monkey one, and my mom was making one for our friend Linda's Birthday. I was so proud of my mom because this technique is way outside the box for her. She sewed wonky strips and learned to quilt as you go.

I also quilted three pieces for Tag Along Totes. The aqua one is mine. The dragonflies for Linda and the orange/pink for my mom. Of course because I don't have my machine, they won't be ready in time for their birthday but that's ok. They're understanding quilters!!

And how cool is this? A grommet tote that Moneik Made for me. Complete with a wonder wallet and a checkbook cover! Thanks Moneik!!

Birthday Presents

I spent the better part of this week making birthday presents for my mom so that's why I'm so late in blogging.

On Tuesday night I made her a pillow case out of some Farm fabric that we got in at the shop. It reminds me of our Facebook Farms.

I used sheep for the cuff because they reminded me of the Serta counting sheep. I numbered them so they counted out her age. Giggle, that kept her busy for about 10 minutes.

I've also been troubleshooting some problems that I'm having with Bud (the machine on my quilt frame). So I quilted a tote bag for her too. I bought this Fat Quarters fabric while in Ohio. I have enough to make myself a bag too.

Rip it, Rip it

My day today felt like everything that could have gone wrong, did.

The only thing that went "near normal" was laying out my Moda Bistro In & Out quilt. I pushed the kitchen table to the wall and I think I've got everything where it needs to be. Now they are stacked and ready to be sewn together.

Now, it was time to take Holly to the vet so that she could get her nails trimmed and so I could pick up her refill on her meds. I love my little fleabag, honestly I do. We walked into the vet like normal. She even sat nicely on the scale. (She's even lost weight!!) Then it was time for her to go with the vet tech and wow...no good. She climbed up on the bench seat and proceeded to try and crawl out a window that was actually closed. Giggle. Then we finally got her off the bench and they just about had to push her into the back. One tech at the front, one at the back. Then I heard her wailing while they trimmed. Are you seeing why we don't attempt this at home??

The rest of my day was spent ripping.

I'm not even done yet. I still have about 3 rows of quilting to rip. I don't know what's up with my machine that is on my frame. I've tried just about everything. I even loaded a small piece of fabric on it last night to quilt for a tote bag just so I could work on adjustments. Adjustments that included me removing the feed dogs because it seems like that is where the bobbin thread is getting hung up. I'm almost wondering if it's a few different issues. Thread hung up on feed dogs, a bad pack of needles and then who knows what else. I'm trying to trouble shoot everything because my Janome is currently in for service. I'll try quilting another small tote bag tomorrow night. If I'm sucessful I'll be able to put the quilt back on the frame as soon as it's fully ripped.

I have no idea where my ipod is. I think I lost it in the couch. I've been listening to the Joy Luck Club and I'm just not fond of it. At this point I'm just feeling like listen and get it done.

In & Out

I finally got the "Out" blocks made. 72 of them. Now I need to get the quilt laid out so I can sew the top together. Gak. Let's not talk about the photograph of these blocks because it's awful!!

I also made another watch band. Forgive the wrinkles. I forgot to take it's picture until I had worn it. This is one band that can be worn two ways. In making this band I came to the realization that even though it may be easier to topstitch with monofiliment, one really should change to matching threads. The little itty bitty piece of monofiliment at the end of the stitching is scratchy and makes you want to rip the band off at your first possible chance!!

Birthday and Holidays

I swiped this picture from my Mom's blog because I quilted it for her, I get to use it as a Start to Finish project.

On Saturday after Patched Works closed for the day we had a Holiday Project Open House to showcase all of the new holiday items in the shop. While listening to Julie's presentation she mentioned how the idea behind this gathering was because of the Holiday Presentations that Minnesota Fabrics did in the 80's. I had forgotten about those. Every year, my Mom, Grandma and I would go to these events. The presentation was always fun for me to go to - even as a small child. It was the waiting while my Mom and Grandma poured over the new fabrics and patterns and waited to get things cut that would just kill me. Never in their wildest dreams did they think I'd become the quilter that I am today. Then again, at that point in time, neither did I!!

Bead Retreat

Friday night we went to Maureen's house for a Bead Retreat party. I was originally going to have a party after my friend Linda had hers but I just haven't felt like I'm in the party mood lately.

The bracelet we made was called Beads with Benefit. $5 from each bracelet goes to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. The kit actually came with clear beads but since I had a bag with me of my beading tools, I realized I also had a stash of crystals on hand so I changed mine out to be Pink.

We had a great time and then afterwards had a huge laugh over some funny Ring Tones that Linda had found on Phone Zoo. Talk about laughing until you cry!!

Finished Falling Leaves

I just put the last stitches into the hanging sleeve of my Falling Leaves wall hanging. It's nice to have a new fall wall hanging ready to go for the upcoming fall season. It's another UFO that I can mark off my list!

I have 12 more UFO's left on my list and it's already the 20th of August. I'm not sure how many more I'll get crossed off before Labor Day but I do intend to keep rattling through them so that I can start with new projects.

Just Roll With It

If there's one thing that I've learned over the past few weeks, it's to just roll with the changes and challenges that come along.

Today I taught two Paper Piecing Classes at the shop. Very last minute - it was a whirlwind. I didn't have time to get nervous. I didn't have time to think. I just did it. I made it through, and I enjoyed myself. I hope that this is the start of more classes to come!

Oil Cloth – Things I’ve learned

Your sewing machine needle gets ridiculously hot when sewing through oil cloth.  So hot that when I removed the needle I dropped it from my hands.  It was curling iron hot!  When needles get hot, they bend…and it screws up everything else.  Like timing.  My machine is headed into the ER for Brad to fix.  Undoubtedly I will see him shake his head at me and then go work his magic.

So what was I doing?  I was trying to make my mom a lunch bag for her birthday that’s coming up next week.  Needless to say, I won’t be making another one in this manner.  First off, I have two layers of oil cloth and an inside layer of insulbrite.  After all…I needed to make the food retain it’s chill didn’t I?  Uh, no dumb ass…just a bag to throw in the fridge at work probably would have been fine…and that’s what I’ll do when I make my own.  If I was going to keep things cold, I needed to zip it closed.  I also figured it would be easier to put tabs on the ends of the zipper and sew that instead of sewing through the zipper.  Yeah, I did nothing but make that area thicker.    Needless to say, at this point I also won’t be boxing the corners because it was much too difficult to run the bag much less turn it wrong side out to do the boxing.  This is how it’s staying.

After the fact, I found this awesome website all about oil cloth.  You should check it out.  Lots of neat ideas and tips.