Merrily we quilt along

Challenge prompt: "A marathon is 26.2 miles. Marathoners don't start out running 26 miles, they start small and train for it. Tell us about something you worked for, something you thought you might never accomplish but did."

While I have never run a marathon and don't foresee that type of activity in my near future, I have completed 10 quilts ranging from crib to bed sized in the past year. My latest finish, I believe my best work so far, the Hello Kitty backed girl quilt.

I just used a straight stitch with the walking foot. The only free motion quilting used was to sign in stitch "Made by Tami 2016." If I had more time to work on this quilt, I would have added stitches to the sashing or used a higher quality material (live and learn). It took me awhile to see this mistake - I am missing a sashing at the bottom of the quilt, doh! (The Homer Simpson sound of frustration)

Linking up with crazymomquilts for Finish it Up Friday.

When I am quilting, I have to force myself to take breaks. With me, it can turn into a quilting marathon. Because the actual quilting part of the creation requires close attention and detail work, you can't let fatigue set in and ignore it. I can attest to that having severely injured myself while sewing a few months ago.

Fabric remnant organization continues with the gray, brown and beige tones.

Thrift shop finds included an aloha T-shirt, Merona navy blue skirt with big buttons, fabric remnants and a Quilting & Patchwork publication from 1974. Below is one image from that book.

Concluding this post with my orchid in bloom, one of five of my collection.

Lucky or unlucky no. 13

Challenge prompt: "Tell us about a time you were lucky, or unlucky."

I was lucky this weekend to find a thrift shop that was offering $5 for a bag of books. In particular, a Fuzzimal Puppies kit and Nature Crafts for Kids for a co-worker's 11 year old inquisitive, camping-loving boy. The rest of the books I picked up as a lark.

The Lore of Sportfishing is a regular doorstop. You Can Whittle and Carve is undated but I place it as a 1960s publication.

I am also lucky to live in an area where I can find such pretty materials for gift quilts. This being a Hello Kitty-backed one for a new baby girl.

Here is the quilt in progress. I use the blue masking to keep me on track with the stitch in the ditch. On my last quilt, I "eyeballed it" and made an error I had to cover with applique.

What lucky things are in your life?

The whole nine yards of fabric

Challenge prompt: "To go the whole nine yards means 'to continue doing something dangerous or difficult until it is finished.' When have you gone the whole nine yards? Write about it."

Story behind this yardage here

Interrupting this challenge with a quilting update!

I have completed the tiki-themed Daughter Quilt. This creation is sixth in the Hawaiian shirt hoarder series comprised of thrifted fabric and thread (link to the log-cabin-style post). Listing it is a Q2 finish, originally posted here.

I did purchase the cotton batting but, as I had read, it required much more quilting than I normally am willing to do. To secure the quilt sandwich I used a stiple stitch around certain borders, a straight stitch with a walking foot and free motion quilting within the center and around the butterflies.


Linked up with:
crazymomquilts for Finish It Up Friday
lizzielenard-vintagesewing across the pond in the UK because I utilized free motion quilting in part of the design of the daughter quilt
shecanquilt for Scraptastic Tuesday

I am using the last of the log cabin squares I made last summer in this Baby Quilt. It is not a traditional baby quilt, more of a little girl quilt. I also will use the Hello Kitty and purple fabric as sashing. The cornerstones and top and bottom borders came in a thrifted packet of fabric already assembled.

I had wanted to  quilt for many years and am amazed at how many quilts I have made in just one year and how much I have learned. On this most recent quilt, I remembered to iron it to set the stitches prior to washing it. The quilting gloves made a big difference for free motion quilting. I will need to upgrade my sewing stand for the next bed-sized quilt. In a perfect world, I would also like to upgrade to a mid-arm sewing machine.

My nine yard difficult dash was taking eight years to earn an Associate's Degree in Business. Had I calculated how long it was going to take, I would have never finished it. It was a matter of taking one class each semester, spring, summer and fall. There were prerequisites and reqs to the pre's, some courses counted toward the degree, others didn't. At least I reached the finish line.

Any dangerous or difficult tasks completed recently?