Tuesday's State of Affairs

And, it is not pretty. I am just keeping it real here. It is also extremely gloomy here this morning. So, the lighting is terrible.
Here is my sewing machine and cutting table. What a mess! I am working on several projects at the moment. You will find out what the stripe fabric is for someday soon.

I struggled with the machine itself this weekend. I got so frustrated that I stomped right out of the house and took a short walk to pick up the mail. Dan took a look and come to find out, it is the spool of thread giving me grief. I never dreamed it was the thread. I thought the machine itself was messing up.
Do you notice how much thread is left on that spool? I cannot even wind up bobbins with this particular spool. What a waste! Well, it is not a waste considering I can use the rest to hand sew bindings onto quilts.
Here is the troublesome spool compared to a full spool of thread. As a side note, these threads are getting harder and harder to find. I am going to switch to another brand. I am thinking of trying Aurifil threads with this machine. I have heard some good things about this brand. So, I am crossing my fingers Aurifil will work out beautifully when I do try them out with the machine.

By the way, I have not been back in the room since this fiasco (until now). I am planning to get back to sewing this afternoon. Pray for me! Pray that I do not get anymore grief from the machine and/or threads. Ha!
Here is my ironing board. I have a "work triangle" set up in the small space and it works very well. As you can see, this area is a mess too. I mean, do see the floor? And, why did the ironing board turn into a "hot spot"? Ugh, Ugh, Ugh! Anyway, as you can see, the top to the Maxine Mug flying geese mug rug is finished.
This is a closeup shot of backing for the Maxine flying geese mug rug. It is still a work in progress. I think I'm going to be real please with this silly little thing when it is finished.

Oops! Im Caught!

Im Out Ov Her!
Chessie was a bad girl. She snuck in, pawed an opening between the design wall and doors to closet and then hid behind the fabric. It was Gracie that "tattled" on her by acting like a Pointer (dog). I was surprised. Chessie is usually either sleeping underneath a chair or boldly laying on a small cot sized sleeper sofa. I would have never realized Chessie was in the room if it had not been for Gracie. By the way, I used a flash with the last two pictures. I grabbed the flash before attempting to take pictures of her because I know she does not like the camera.

Piece,

Wordy Wednesday

I sneaked a picture of Mother with her Maxine quilt:

March 1, 2011
It is not a good picture considering

1. I took it with my phone and
2. light above her shined into the camera

But hey, I got a picture of her with her quilt for posterity sake and that is all that matters to me. It does my heart good to see that she uses it. Of course, she would be mad at me if she ever finds out I took a picture of her AND posted it on my blog. Oh well. I will live. Ha!

If you're new here, you can see the matching pillowcase here. There is a link within that post that will lead you to pictures of the Maxine quilt I made her if you're interested.

Crafty Tuesday

I have not done much sewing of late since I have been focusing on being a housewife and dealing with headaches/migraines. I am planning to do more sewing this week. In the meantime, here is a picture of a pillowcase I made for my Mother, which was completed on February 25, 2011.



It coordinates with her Maxine Quilt. I took my time using different instructions from the one I made for myself. I liked the first instructions better - the finish/seams is so much cleaner.

I also sewed on the quilt label onto Mother's Maxine quilt while I was with her several weeks ago.


Note: This picture was taken with my phone. So, the quality is not all that great.

The hand sewing is not the greatest work as I have not done much of it in my life. But, I can now say the quilt is officially completed - one more project marked off the list of things to do. It feels so good to have a project all finished up nicely.

Maxine Quilt: WIP and Finale!

{Note: if you're new here and want to see the entire WIP, go to Maxine Quilt: The beginning.}

I used up leftover fabrics to create the backing. I first chose the red fabric to be the binding fabric. The reason why I did that is two-fold. 1) It framed the quilt rather well and 2) My mother is a fan of Red Hats Ladies - "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple...With a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me." I thought it is appropriate as that border fabric has a purple hue that does not show up in the pictures.

I then measured all the leftover fabrics. I grabbed some graph paper and started doodling. I loved this process as it used my mind and creativity. Once I had everything down on paper and in my mind, I then took the design to the fabric. Now, that was scary for me because if there was one mistake, it could mess the whole thing up. But, I didn't encounter any problems and was absolutely thrilled with the end result.


Here is a picture of what I drew up before I actually started the cutting and sewing up the backing.

Backing. Completed 12/14/2010
I'll let the pictures tell the story from hereon with a minimal amount of words. At least, I'll try not to get too wordy. Ha!


The one and only time Chessie gets on to investigate
My Loving Husband is Always a Good Assistant





Basting of quilt was done on 12/18/2010

Finished Top. 12/23/2010

Finished Backing. 12/23/2010

All Done!
By the way, My mother LOVED this quilt. I caught her using it the morning before we left town. It did my heart good.

Wordy Wednesday

Check out Dan's Big Nuts...
Bwahahahah! I couldn't resist. Actually, it was Dan's idea and I just ran away with it. To see what I did with these nuts, check out the Bur Oak Acorn Ornaments post.

On a different subject, here is a sneak peek into the backing of Maxine's quilt.
Oh, that isn't enough for you? Well sheesh, you're never happy. How about this?

And, if that is not enough, tough. Ha! You'll see the completed quilt after Christmas. Actually, more like after the New Year. The quilt is almost done! The binding is going on today.

PS This siggy is kind of ironic for me considering it's going to be 71° today and 73° tomorrow. But, I adore snowmen. And, it's Winter. Ha!

Sneak Peek of Backing to Maxine Quilt

{Note: if you're new here and want to see the entire WIP, go to Maxine Quilt: The beginning.}

I was going to give you something different for my "Crafting Tuesdays" today; but, the project I was working on this past weekend is not quite finished.

So, instead of that, I've decided to give you a sneak peek of the WIP (work in Progress) on Mom's Maxine Quilt.

This is just a section of a long strip for the backing. And yes, this part is finished. This long section of the quilt was the hardest part. Decisions, decisions, decisions -- being creative is tough!

I hope to have the backing finished by Thursday or Friday. And, then I can baste the top, batting, and backing together, quilt it, and then bind it! We'll see considering I'm such a slow poke.

Next Up: Maxine Quilt: WIP and finale

WIP: Maxine Quilt

{WIP == Work In Progress}

Note: If you are new here and wish to see my project from the very beginning, go to Maxine Fabric (The Beginning). Links are provided (embedded) in each of the WIP Maxine posts to continue on until you get to this post.

The border aka frame is sewn on! hurray!
I am not crazy with how the bottom left bottom block disappears into the border. Oh well.

I had sewn three sides on before taking off for Thanksgiving. I then sewed on the last side earlier today. I'm thrilled that this part is done.

I have decided that I don't like taking pictures of the quilts in progress. The picture doesn't do the quilt top justice. The fabric used in the border is more of a purple hue than blue. And, the room I am using is just too small. I just can't get it right! I think I'm going to have to find a different location to take pictures. But, where?!?

Anyway, It's now onto the backing fabric! I'm going to try to piece it (hodgepodge) with leftover pieces fabrics.

This was completed as part of the goal I set at:

The other part of my goal can be found here. It was completed late that afternoon when the challenge was first issued.

As for new goals:

I am pretty sure that Block 3 for the Layer Cake quilt along will be posted tomorrow. I have two weeks to do that. Should be easy enough as it's only one block.

I need to come up with a backing fabric for the Maxine quilt. That is going to take time as I need to decide on how I want to do accomplish (design) that using the leftover fabric. But, hopefully, I'll do it quickly enough as I feel like I don't have much time left. One week should be enough time, right? I am mentally screaming over this. Ha!

Next up: Sneek Peek to Backing

WIP: Maxine Quilt

WIP == Work In Progress

Note: If you are new here and wish to see my project from the very beginning, go to Maxine Fabric (The Beginning). Links are provided (embedded) in each of the WIP Maxine posts to continue on until you get to this post.

The blocks all sewn up!
The quilt in the picture seems narrower at the bottom. It's not. I am not an expert photographer and haven't yet learned how to "fix" this problem (either while taking pictures or during the editing process). Edited to add: Dan will be teaching me how to make it look more square/even both ways soon. Yay!


The border fabric
And yes, I know, it needs to be ironed before I cut into it. Ha!

For some odd reason, purples just don't want to show up very well in the pictures. This fabric is actually more of a purple hue than blue. Some of this fabric was used as borders in the blocks in the quilt (three of them). Can you find them?

Anyway, I've decided on cutting the fabric (for the border to frame the quilt) 4-1/2" wide. This will make the actual border width approximately 4" wide after it is all sewn up and bound. Most likely, it'll end up a tiny bit smaller than 4" because I'm not an expert at binding. But, that is okay.

Next Up: WIP: Maxine Quilt (11/29/10)