ta da ! It's a done deal

It's great to have this quilt done and within the time frame I wanted.
Martie held these up-so they are not the greatest view, but, photos posted is better than not. Did I mention Cody chose red and blue?
I made lots of hst's to play with and finally decided on this design-as it came across the most red/blue.
The large pieces on the back used up those plain/bugs fabric, part of the front fabric used. A very cheerful quilt for a very out going and smiling 12 year old. All from stash too- got to love that.

You can't tell much from the (photo of the) back as what I fixed is way on the bottom which doesn't show in this photo.

I threw in a photo of the label- written in blue with red drawn hearts top and bottom. I machine stitched it in then did the binding- so it should hold up well.

This quilt finished out at 65 by 96 1/2...a very large twin size :-)

Now to find a box big enough to ship this in and mail it off next week. I drove over and picked up a loaner sewing chair until I can find time to hunt down a reasonably priced and comfortable/suitable sewing chair as I took my old chair over to a donation center. It was an expensive Horn chair but the front of it had no support muscle left- if that makes any sense. Suffice to say, it was hurting to sit in it for more than five minutes and I finally got it out of here.

I have an hour before we go across the street for a party with a finish time of 10 pm...these folks clearly do not want us staying too late!

I have been reading blogs and toying with adding a few aspects I have really liked. I don't have the computer skills to add to my sidebar the great goal lists I have seen- but - one of my 2006 goals is to become better at this website biz. A quilter came up with 6 quilts in 2006, which is catchy, but I am going to challenge myself to do more than that. I work full time-but if my job change doesn't happen- I will be not working for who knows how long...last time I got a lot of stuff done around the home and quilting wise. I still have lots of home stuff to finish up...and plenty of quilting left in terms of stash and ufos...I think I will spend some time on my 2006 quilting goals and post later on what I think would work for me.

Nancy, I think I agree with you on answering comments in blogs...going back and reading answers is too time consuming- so either answer in a post or direct email if possible, which sometimes is not of course- but most comments do not require an answer. Although that said, I confess I have answered a few comments and may continue to do so...depending on my time available.

posting photos...and stuff

First off, I need to correct a detail (I am all about details)- I joined a stash quilts ring...stash buster is another group I am involved in. Stash quilts fits - the last two years I have almost exclusively made quilts from my stash, on occasion having to buy a border or binding to finish a quilt. I do a lot of scrap quilts which helps me limit my outside the fabric room shopping. I am a firm believer in shopping the stash first.

Another goal was to use up all my flannel stash. I am now on my sixth flannel quilt- none of them smaller than a large twin size...and still have two shelves full plus a bolt. That flannel sale really sucked me in several years ago!

I buried my ditigal camera in the Christmas company shifting of stuff. I have Cody's top posted but I am waiting until the quilt is bound/labeled to post the final photo- which will be two as I want to share the back.
So, please be patient ...eventually I will have many more photos...

The binding fabric is in the washing machine. It will take longer of course to get it ready to put on the quilt-and ironing yardage is not my favorite thing to do. Oh well...

By the way, I have plenty of old ufos! I have to update my ufo list but it's around the 15 to 20 count. I did finish my oldest ufo from 1999 this year. I have many many 2000 ufos as that was the year I took a lot of classes not understanding how much time it would take to finish those quilts !

No doubt I will always have some ufos...but I would like to get it down to under 5. I don't feel the need to have none...a variety of projects is a good thing -as it keeps me feeling more creative.

the big push

I finally sat down and trimmed the quilt- added the strip on the one short side of the backing-and finished quilting around the outer border. I re-quilted a few lines I had to unquilt to fix that backing problem.

Now to pull fabric for binding, and get it on along with a label. Tomorrow is looking jam packed already...but I may have the evening to do some quilting.

I am totally determined to have this quilt completely done before Saturday 5 pm...as we have a party across the street to go to for the evening. I do not want this quilt carried into 2006. All new quilts started this year will be done if I meet that goal-so it's very inspiring put that way, don't you think ?

Side note: the interview went well- I got a message that the owner will have another conversation with me before Tuesday...so we shall see. I am over being nervous and feeling very calm and centered. It seems a good match for me and them...of course the money part needs to be agreed upon-and a few other details. It's a real small company- 14 total employees!

It was a great day- I made delicious chicken enchiladas- they sounded so good, my son drove over to get in on eating them :-) I really enjoy cooking for company- we had a friend over and it was just the right amount of people around the table...well, a few more would have been fine too. However, leftovers are always a good thing.

I am off to the fabric room to pull binding fabric before heading to bed. It's hard to quit when I am finally in this groove..and yet I know sleep is a good thing.

thanks for ring welcomes and...

I joined stash buster ring ...and really appreciate the welcomes I have received-many thanks! I have been trying to check out the blogs of fellow stash busters...have enjoyed all of them to date...

I worked on hand quilting and made a fair amount of progress after running out of yarn for my knitting project.
I had an expert knitter as our hostess and wanted to be sure to ask her for help further along in my project. But, I failed to bring enough yarn to get to an asking point. Because I find using a thimble iresome, I have a pretty sore right index finger now. So, back home-I am pulling the yarn out and carrying on with that for tonight.

My son is also staying with us for the rest of the week- he is bunking in the fabric room. No worries as I cleared enough floor space he is not in danger of being smothered by bags/boxes of fabric! I am going to have to do some re-organizing before my sewing table will once more be clear for quilting. I also need to fix the backing problem. And tomorrow I have a job interview. I hate looking for work, but, I hate being broke more.

I am happy to be back home and able to tackle the sewing room mess and dive back into Codys quilt. I figure I will still find plenty of time for quilting this week...

main part of quilting finished

I just did the last big X in the last vertical row of blue tot...whew. Before I can finish the borders..I need to fix some shortage in the backing areas. It's nice to have the hardest work done on Codys quilt. I spent more time baking today than I had expected. I also had more interruptions than I thought too. We leave tomorrow morning and when we get back on Tuesday I may have time to do more on it. My son Ryan will be staying with us that night and probably several more nights before heading back to Texas. He will help clear enough space in the fabric room to set up the blow up bed. If that doesn't work out- there is always the couch. I will have to spend less time on quilty stuff and more time being mom. Family is always first with me...well, it's been a great day-a bonus day off from work and now I know I need to quit-too tired to sew well anymore.

wrestling with computer stuff

Tuesday night I tried to fix my links to add a ring logo...and obviously failed. I missed checking the preview before accepting, so, now I can't go back to how it started. I hate following what appear to be simple directions and in computer land, a seam ripper doesn't undo the damage. I have appealed for help-but, so far-no luck.

Last night I ignored the sewing room entirely in favor of watching a movie with my honey. That bonding time is as important as quilting-although it took some will power :-)

This am I put another line of quilting in. The clock is ticking on reaching my goal of being able to take it to the beach and work on the binding. I may end up working into the night Friday despite myself. Tonight family is coming over- both my sons and daughter-in-law. Cozy and as we will be gone on Christmas day- a chance to celebrate together. Quilts for both of them are on the 2006 goal list...one wants another 49er theme quilt (that would be the football team from San Francisco) and the couple could use a throw for their couch. They are also expecting...that I Spy quilt template may come out of storage and finally get put to use. Although I actually intend that quilt to be given at a later date- so perhaps something more baby-ish first. I have a cute pink themed one in the works...which suits a possible grand daughter...and I never lack for boy themed fabric in my stash.

I am spending New Year's Day quilting- with the intent that I will have put in a lot of cutting/kitting time before hand. Hmmm, sounds good huh? Whether I actually find time to do prep remains to be seen. I may just pull the scrap bin up and spend the day working on using as much of it up as possible. What a concept. I need about a month of doing that!

Ok- if I push, I could squeeze in some more quilting this am....off to give that a go...

the rest of the quilting design

I am drinking coffee and waking up here. As I share my sewing room with the computer desk- I can either multi-task, or get distracted, depends on your attitude about taking a break from quilting.
I have decided three straight lines down the blue tone on tone strips then probably an elongated X over them.
I want this quilt to be quilted enough to hold up to being washed by a non-quilter and used by an active young man. And, I am going to probably not hand stitch the binding, as looking at the baby quilt I did for him long ago, the binding has taken the worse beating in wear and stitches coming out. I am putting a cotton not flannel binding on this quilt- the one and only flannel binding I did on an all flannel quilt was a work out on my hands/fingers. I have navy fabric that will work well, unless I change my mind-lots to chose from the stash, so that won't be a worry.
Now that I have a plan for the rest of the quilt, I think twenty minutes this am could be used quilting. I am caught up on the computer reading-and posting. Boy am I sorry I have to go to work- I could be done quilting today if not for that.

done with the blue geese

I could have been done sooner- but- it was a non work day due to no power and I combined some visiting with family along with quilting. So, here it is late, but, those geese are quilted. Back to work tomorrow. Back to quilting in the evening only. I am sure it is now going to go faster...I want to be handstitching binding by Friday night...and it is possible...as long as I don't mind not sleeping .....much.

on to the blue geese

My computer went down Friday night-which was not a problem-I had plenty of non computer and non quilty stuff to do. I finally got it all done and on Sunday afternoon switched computers so I could get back online.
Of course the wind storm knocked out our tv reception on Saturday or maybe it was Sunday-again I am not a big tv watcher but it sure bothered my partner! The repair person can not come until Friday afternoon. I am sure we will survive.

Today work was cancelled- so I made some more progress on the row of blue flying geese blocks-near the end of that row now. I am torn- to keep on it, or take a break and do some cutting of scraps.

I do a ufo challenge as part of an online group of quilters...and I want to have some charity baby quilts started so they will go on that list of 2006 ufos. I need a balance of large and small projects on my list...and the older ufos I have are mostly of the LARGE variety! I do have a few small ones...but as I am also committed to doing at least a dozen charity baby quilts- it would be nice to have more started before year's end. And, I am so tired of this large scrap bin living beside my sewing table. A lot of it is mile a minute scraps when I first got smitten with that concept/pattern. But, then, along came life and I stopped working with those scraps-but, kept tossing more into the bin. argh. I have since sorted that bin-so it's time to do the next step. If I take these scraps and turn them into future charity quilts- I acheive two goals at once. It sounds good.

First I want to finish this row-then I will see what I want to do next- more quilting or cutting. At least tv won't provide a distraction from the important quilty stuff tonight.

whew, red geese done

I am getting a work out doing these flying geese! I am happy to say I just completed all the red geese. I am going to do the two rows of blue geese next. I figure these are the most time consuming as I have to stitch, pivot, stitch and moving all the quilt each time is where the work out comes into play. Did I say straight stitch quilting would be faster? yeah, right. Well, it's my idea and I am still determined to stay with it. I am quilting on my Bernie 180...one day I will have a larger throat machine...but not until next year probably.
Tomorrow night is bake Christmas cookies over at my son's house...so no quilting unless I squeeze some into my morning before work time.....I have to say, once I start quilting...boy is it hard to stop!

and how the quilting went

I was stitching a center line down the middle of the flying geese and had the hardest time-broke two needles before realizing I had my walking foot on wrong. sigh. Of course once I fixed that, the quilting was much easier! I decided to outline quilt the flying geese triangles. Now that is time consuming but, I think worth it. I am doing red thread on the red flying geese first. It is slow going and boy is this quilt heavy with batting added to the two layers of flannel (top and bottom). I realized this is the first large flannel quilt I have done with batting doing the quilting myself. And, it's going to be the last...at least that is what I am saying now lol.

Well, I can squeeze in fifteen minutes of quilting this am before leaving for work-so I am out of here.

taking advantage of time home

I had to stay home this morning while we had some work done on the house. So, I cleared our large dining room table (located in the kitchen as we don't have a real dining room) and pinned my nephew's quilt. This was not the ideal way but, the chance was too good to pass up. I need to wind lots of bobbins next and then can settle in and quilt it. I also need to give some thought to the label. It is really nice to have a free morning to get this done-good light and I am not already tired from working a full day.

backing done

No quilting for a while due to a flu bug and then being at the beach for the weekend. It was nice to have a break. I am just dealing with a stuffy nose so tonight I finished up the backing. I am pleased to have this stage done. If I wasn't dealing with kicking this bug and needing to gather my energy for Christmas decorating and related stuff I enjoy doing- I would kick into marathon mode and sandwich/pin this quilt. Instead, I am going to be good and get to bed at a reasonable hour. I was able to start a new sweater I am knitting for myself over the weekend-Martie's sister is an expert and it is a pattern she shared with me. She is making one for Martie, which she says will be finished in a week. She is really fast. I knit so rarely, I am more in the savoring the experience of knitting than rush to get it done. Doing something without a deadline is a nice change of pace. I have one knitting ufo- a baby sweater for my older son. I came across it and remembered why it did not get done. He came a month early and boy, that really threw my timing and projects off! He is now expecting his first child and I think...I will stitch the pieces together and give it to them if they have a boy. Yes, I made it in blue...guess I was pretty sure I was having a boy back then.

Of course I am going to have to do some hunting to track it down again. I am pretty sure it was all knitted-just needed to be joined together.

I missed my December 10th deadline for finishing this quilt...but, it is still on track to get done.
You have to be flexible when the flu bug bites or other life stuff comes up. Quilting is important...but it is not life or death important.

piecing a back

I have been working on piecing the back for my nephew. Obtaining the length was easy enough- the width is taking a lot more cutting and fitting together. I think it will be worth it in the end.

I changed my mind and will be adding a light weight cotton batting to this quilt. I think it will drape better and quilt better too.

Finding a place to baste this large of a quilt may be challenging. I can always go over to my lqs and borrow their tables if I really need to.

I love this feeling of nearing the end. And, I love doing the binding-each stitch bringing you closer to a finished snuggly quilt.

Back to cutting/sewing on this back.

some related quilting

I did label stitching for nine charity quilts turned in by various women for our group to pass along to the foundation. WrapThemInLove is pretty much run by one woman-with lots and lots of help from local and far away quilters. She is going to be in my town and I will have a chance to hand over all our quilts to her directly. This saves shipping fees as at this time of year, I don't have time to drive an eight hour round trip up there. Plus, they will get to those in need a lot faster as well. I stayed up putting these labels on tonight...another example of my marathon tendency..push to finish that goal. I know in the morning I need to pull together the rest of my stuff for hours of group quilty fun. I will be taking more photos of finished quilts and no doubt, stitching on more labels on quilts in need. I also put in a count of finished quilts turned in-with names of members if noted on the labels. This will allow me to be able to put in our total for the year. Any quilts turned in after our meeting will be held over until January or so.

I did some clearing of non-quilty stuff in my studio as well today. It is a slow process but progress is being made.

why is it?

I would have so enjoyed a day home quilting- but, that snow did not hit us. drats. It was a birthday celebration when I got home..not mine, but my partner's. So, forget the quilting and focus on enjoying the other parts of a good life.

As much as I enjoy quilting...I like it better when I listen to music while doing it...especially the quilting part. I really rock out and can quilt into the night with my headphones and now my ipod in my pocket. Now if I could figure out how to do my work out and quilt at the same time..wouldn't that be the best combination?

Life is gonna kick into high gear tomorrow night and quilting time is really going to be squeezed in wherever I can fit it...but with this top up on the design wall...I keep wanting to get it to the quilting stage...so I will make it happen.

Why is it that what you love the most to do can often be the last thing you can find time for?