Tag: Quilting

Lots of snow but we still went shopping!

We got at least 4″ of fresh snow last night. It was so pretty I should have taken a picture! We are expecting another 5-9″ over the next two days, so Kevin’s snow thrower will get a workout. Today the traffic wasn’t too bad because a lot of people were still off work, but the next storm will be during prime time. It has been a few years since we have had this much snow, and I have totally got out of the habit of dealing with it. For example, I keep forgetting to put on my snow boots before I go out. They are sitting at the door, ready for me, but I just walk right past them in my regular shoes. Sigh.

We waited until the plows had plenty of time to work and went shopping. I finally decided I needed a new iPad. I had an iPad 3 that was about 6 years old with only 16 GB, and it just wasn’t behaving well. I ended up at the Apple Store and walked out the door with a new iPad Air 2 with 128 GB  plus a nice case. Since I don’t use the iCloud for my backups, I had to set it up at home using iTunes on my Windows laptop. It took two hours since I had all kinds of problems. However I am using it to write this post, and I am quite happy with it.

After I got the iPad set up, I decided to work on my daughter’s quilt. It took some time to get the tension set up correctly (bad tension was the reason I had to take out the quilting yesterday), but it looks nice now. I need to work on it in short sessions of one hour or so to keep my concentration and to keep my arthritis from flaring up. I will probably finish the background tomorrow and then the elephant itself on Wednesday. I can’t wait!

Quilting again!

Another busy Sunday

As usual, Kevin and I went to choir rehearsal then attended the service. I just love this Advent season – music, candles, and good food. After we got home I finished up the quilt flimsy for my daughter’s forthcoming baby. Isn’t it adorable?

We also attended the local Eccles Theater to see a Broadway touring company production of White Christmas. It was a very professional and enjoyable presentation. We have season tickets to the Broadway at Eccles series. Our tickets are in the first balcony, and we have a great view of the stage.

Tomorrow – keep working on the quilt and start candy making!

 

Pictures finally

I did a reasonable amount of piecing on my daughter’s quilt today. It is lots of little squares, what is called a pixelated quilt. Here are the first 10 rows, all sewn together.

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And here are the remaining piles of pieces.

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There are still another 30 rows or so to go, then I will need to sew the rows together. After that will be borders, followed by sandwiching the front, batting, and backing. Finally I will quilt it and do the binding, so there is still a lot of work to do.

We also went to the Dr. Strange movie today. I love Benjamin Cumberbatch, but the movie was pretty good on its own too. Great special effects as expected in a Marvel movie, but the story was fairly good too.

We put up the Christmas lights a few days back. Here’s a (not so great) picture of those too, or at least part of them. Notice the overgrown roses and silverberry bush in front of the porch. I didn’t get anything pruned last year, and it shows! In January I will prune everything waaaayyy back where they should be.

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Thursday night already?

I have let the week get by me. Monday and Tuesday I did a lot of cutting out the quilt for my daughter’s baby. In fact, I cut so much my hand is sore! I also did a lot of sewing and pressing to prepare the strip sets. I only have a few more sets to finish up, then I get to start putting it together. I promise to get pictures of all my little piles of fabric before I start sewing it all back together. Yesterday I did a lot of shopping plus an eye appointment plus choir practice, so it was a busy day even without any sewing.

Today was was the start of a new volunteer activity. I took the first of many full-days of tax training with AARP for doing taxes for seniors. I take six full days of training this month followed by two more days of classes in January. There is even homework! Assuming I pass the certification test from the IRS, I can then help others fill out their tax forms. I think I will enjoy it. I am analytical, and this will be a good fit for my skill set. I will also be qualified to work with low income folks through the VITA program, though I don’t think I will have the time to do that this year.

Choir, church, snow, and quilting – a normal Sunday

Pretty much every Sunday when we are at home we do the same thing – choir rehearsal, church, dinner, and then home. My husband doesn’t sing, but he is kind enough to drive in with me each Sunday morning so I can make the hour or hour and a half long choir rehearsal before the church service. Today was a full hour and a half since we have a Christmas concert coming in addition to the normal service music.

Getting home, my husband went to get the garage ready for winter since we are supposed to get 3-6″ at our house while the mountains behind us are forecast to get 18-24″. In our case that means moving the lawn mower to storage and bringing the snow thrower home. Of course that generally requires rearranging pretty much everything in the garage! I leave him to it and head to my sewing studio. I spent yesterday cleaning it up and finishing a few small things. It is still a mess, but I have a corner suitable for a new project. I need to make a baby quilt for my daughter’s baby coming in February. Here’s the pattern:

Quilt pattern for Clay's quilt
Quilt pattern for Clay’s quilt

Isn’t it cute? It is from Bean Counter Quilts, and I am making the smaller size, though I may add another border to it. Lots of strip piecing with eight gray/white background fabrics, five turquoise fabrics, with the elephant also having gray, black, and lime green accents (not the pink as shown in the photo). This is what I got accomplished: pressing 16 pieces of fabric and cutting 125 separate 2″ strips. It may not sound like a lot, but it is!

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Tomorrow I start sewing the strip sets together and sub-cutting them. Tonight – PBS or Netflix since my back is sore! I really should improve the ergonomics in my studio.