Another finish; do I have ONE more miracle in me???

Oh, what a day!!!
Packed full and I'm still feeling like I'm going strong.....
Up and revin' the engine by 8:00; hitting the Statistics books until 3:00. (YUP! 7 hours almost non-stop; it's to be expected by now....How far away is January 21st????)

BUT, at 3:00, I literally went from one table to another.....
the dining room table was replaced with my quilting table.....Jen's quilt was a callin'!

Jen's Diamonds (86" x 96")
My SIL and brother have a queen size bed, so this baby will be just the right size! It's pictured on my king size bed.....freshly laundered and ready for packaging and wrapping.

And here's the backing I mentioned yesterday. I burned through a nice amount of stash for this one. The quilting is VERY simple! Horizontal lines! That's it. My SIL wanted it "floofy" {{lol...still love that description}}, so I used polyester batting and VERY little quilting to keep it "flexible." At least it was a quick one to quilt up.


So, I'm wondering....can I pull off a miracle before next Sunday when we celebrate Christmas with DH's family???

I pulled out the fabric I purchased last month for BIL's (DH's brother) quilt. He made his wishes very clear. Simple. Camo. and Heavy! SO! Heavy denim camo was purchased as well as black demin. This fabric is QUITE different sewing than the typical cotton. I will NOT be loading this top on the frame when I get to the quilting point. My plans: purchase a queen size black sheet, cut batting to fit and TIE this quilt.

I took a personal day tomorrow so I could make Caitlyn's Christmas Program at 1:30; I haven't taken a personal day in quite a while, so.....I don't feel too guilty about this one. {{although my Statistics students were pouting that I'm giving them a test tomorrow---on a MONDAY---and I'm not there to answer any questions they may have.}} Anyway....I'll be up to take Candace to before-school care and then I'll be back home working away on Trav's (BIL) quilt. If I get this top done before I leave for my family Friday morning, it will be VERY likely to be completed by Sunday's celebration with DH's family. I have ALL DAY Saturday with no plans other than relaxing at my parent's house....so....PLENTY of time! :0)

Ooooooooo......I'm liking this week's stash report!

Stash Report: Dec. 13 - 19
Used/week: 14.25 yards
Purchased/week: 0.0 yards

Used/year: 242.146 yards
Purchased/year: 221.736 yards

Net used: 20.41 yards

Happy 5 days 'til Christmas!!!!!!!!!

On the frame and on the sewing table...

The main part of the day, I spent piecing a backing for Jen's Diamonds. I didn't have enough of any one, or two, or three fabrics, so I pulled as many blues/browns/cremes I could to create a pieced backing. Mostly made of 10" blocks checkerboarded, with a few strips of fabs here-n-there. At one point, I planned on taking a picture of it before loading it on the frame, but......yeah.....I kinda forgot by the time I came back down from "momma-style-cleaning" in the loft.

MY GOODNESS!!! Will those girls EVER learn how to clean without "momma-style-throwing-into-a-garbage-bag" cleaning?? {{giggle}}....I'm wondering when there aren't going to be any toys LEFT up there because I've tossed all of them in a garbage bag at one time or another. Hmmmm....must be like scraps; they simply multiply over night without knowing how.


Anyway....so Jen's Diamonds is loaded on the frame and will await tomorrow or some other crunch time this week. I simply am too pooped to quilt this tonight; not even starting. Blah....


Gotta LOVE Leaders-n-Enders method! If you haven't heard of this method yet, TRULY TRULY take a few moments of your time in order to SAVE you time in the long run.

Today, while piecing the backing for Jen's quilt, I finished up RRCB Step #2 units, so my game plan tonight is to printout Step #4 and see about prepping that for L/E.

I still have a backup L/E project lying around...my Buckeye Beauty - Fall Swap blocks that I'm making MORE of in order to have a nice large quilt. I have been sewing the L/E for a few months now....very leisurely....so I wanted to have an idea of how many I have in all at this point....

Sixty-seven (67) complete sets to make sixty-seven 8" blocks. So, I'm thinking.....a 7x9 layout (that's 63 total blocks for a center measuring roughly 56"x72"). Four blocks will be left over to use at corner blocks to complete the borders I'll piece together for it.

Hmmm.....guess all these twosies will be pieced for some "extra" 4-patches for some other project in the future.

I'm sure this will come as NO SURPRISE to any other quilter out there.....

I have SO MANY "gonna-be-made" quilts floating around in my mind AND in my sewing room. I made up my mind that this little some-day-to-be-made-into-a-quilt fabric roll is going to be a Christmas gift for my MIL. Oh----soooooo hard to part with it, but....psht! As if I don't have enough other 'some-day-to-be-made-into-a-quilt' fabrics all over my sewing room!!!

I'll share this Random Reflections pattern with her as a possible use for the fabrics.

Okay---still have some energy so I'm off to see about prepping RRCB Step #4.

Happy Saturday Evening!

Jen's Diamonds top done

Knowing I needed to put some time into prepping for Statistics today, I was downstairs by 7:15 am to get some sewing time in. I told myself...."until noon"....

...I'm on such a roll that MAYBE I'll say ... "until 3:00".... ???

Anyway...

Jen's Diamonds (86"x96")
I JUST finished the top a few moments ago. I used up a good amount of fabric piecing together the borders. At first, I considered a piano-key border using the fabric odds-n-ends that I still have from the 10-minute blocks, but.....ummm...I caved. That would have taken a load of time that I just don't think I have. So, instead, I slapped on three sets of borders once the blocks were pieced. I needed to get the quilt wider FAST in order to fit a queen bed, so the side borders are 8" wide. THEN, I didn't have enough of the brown fabric to also make the top/bottom 8" (which honestly would have made it too long), so they are only 3" wide, using up the last of that fabric. I would have liked the top/bottom borders to be more like 4-5" just so that visually it would "fit better" {{I'm a mathematician, so the "golden ratio" is often an image I like to see}}, and 8" sides vs. 3" top/bottom....just doesn't look right.

So, I headed upstairs with it to see just how "bad" it looked on Cass's bed (queen size). Can't even notice the difference since the borders are clearly on the draped sides.

Oh, and do you notice the different layout of the blocks? When I headed downstairs this morning, the checker-board layout just didn't look right, so....I played around and came up with this layout. I like it better because there is some symmetry to it now; specially for those blocks that have that crazy brown/copper fabrics.

DH started a fire earlier upon rising, but since I've been downstairs all morning, I haven't really noticed. I have a small vent in my sewing room where I get some warm air, but we don't have the infloor heat on. Since my sewing room is now tile, and I was also working in the open area for pinning borders, etc..........tscha.....well, the temps downstairs usually range from 55-60 degrees. My 'sewing' wardrobe usually is sweats, sweatshirt, toasty-fuzzy socks ....

So when I came upstairs to take a pic of the quilt top on Cass's bed....I was hit by a wall of wood-furnace heat. OMGOODNESS!!!! Needless to say, I have since stripped off my sweatshirt and socks.


Okay, I have chaos going on in the kitchen. Time for me to go put something together for lunch before my kids drive me crazy with their whining.

3rd December finish: Morning Run

Morning Run (72"x92")

Freshly laundered, Morning Run is ready for gifting to DH's boss's daughter.  Overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

The quilting was from a book via Golden Threads; no name was given for the pattern.

I used a Thinsulate batting rather than my normal Warm-n-Natural.  I wanted her to be able to completely wrap herself up in this quilt, and sometimes I find that the Warm-n-Natural along with the amount of quilting a pantograph has us complete, the quilts are "stiff" until well broken in.   This one is easily at "snuggle status" already.  

I'm actually reminded of my Orange Crush (the first Bonnie mystery I took part in).  I used Thinsulate batting and it's my FAVORITE quilt to snuggle in with!  I love it!  Light, yet plenty warm!

While Morning Run was in the washer/dryer, I set out to piece the borders for the individual blocks of Jen's Diamonds.  Ehh...still not in love with this quilt.  I'm a bit nervous that it won't end up with a look that Jen will like...

Okay, time to get dinner going....

10-minute block! MOTIVATION was found!!!

While parking my butt last night, I perused some new sites I found via a "King-size quick quilt pattern" goggle search. (HEY! When suddenly THREE new quilts are sequestered in the same weekend, ONE MONTH from Christmas---the quilts need to be QUICK!) ;0)

Well....check out this 10-minute block video clip. It just seemed too slick NOT to try out immediately!!!!

V'iola....this is ABSO-TOOTIN-LUTELY a quick, simple and neat-o block! These fabrics have been sitting, waiting patiently since this summer when my SIL requested another "floofy" quilt. Remember that post???

If you visit that post, you'll see I took a pic of the originally planned pattern, but....eh......that one would have also been quick to piece, but.....I just really was impressed with this 10-minute block.

So, I grabbed a pencil and scrap paper to draft up a quick pattern. My plan (which may not be easily seen) is to alternate a lighter block with a darker block, with alternating light/dark sashings, pending what color block is next to it. {{did that even make sense????}} I think I have a name for this already too!! Jen's Diamonds.

Anyway...I whipped up two 10-minute blocks before closing up shop last night. And they'll need to just wait patiently on the side because my Connecting Threads shipment arrived today. I ordered some of the Essential Pro threads to try out on a customer quilt and so far, being three passes into the quilting, so good. NO thread breakage....very little lint so far. Once I'm finished with the quilt (Twilight), I'll give a complete review of the thread in case some of you have been curious about trying it out too. I REALLLY like Connecting Threads! I've ordered fabric a few different times......{{**sigh**}} and yeah.....this time too! I'm not really looking forward to figuring out my Stash Report for this week! YIKERS! {{I'm sure Jill won't mind it though. She'd love some company in the "red-world".}} :0)

So...took a little break to have a snack and some tea (and to update the blog). I'll see how far I can get with the quilting of Twilight tonight; I set Sunday as the deadline so it can be mailed out on Monday. I'm EASILY going to make that deadline :0)

OH GREAT! Now I need to find some wood to knock----knowing Murphy, my machine will probably go wacky on me so that I won't be able to finish this quilt, not to mention all the others that are awaiting completion before that glorious day 26 days from now!

Happy Tuesday!
;0)