Week ending September 24, 2023

I ended up with Covid this week. My whole house had Covid.  Needless to say. I didn't get all the things done I hoped to.  

My longarm robotics came in and I spent the weekend putting everything together. 

It took most of Saturday and Sunday. I spent a lot of time troubleshooting things and finally got it all working correctly by Sunday afternoon. 

I tested it out on one of the quilt tops I got at the thrift store. 

It has a lot of mistakes as I had to fix various things on my machine as I went along. 

I ended Sunday getting scraps together for a quilt back. 

Hopefully now that I'm feeling good, I can get more done this week.  

Week ending September 17, 2023

I didn't do much sewing this week.  I focused on getting ready to finish some quilts when my longarm is back up and going. It should be back together by the end of the month. I finished my two Jaftex project quilts last week and I made a matching square with the scraps to make a pillow to go with one.

I finished 4 scrappy blocks for a pattern test last week and I got some photos of them, but can't share just yet. 

I ordered books to help me learn Electric Quilt software and they arrived. 

I made a t-shirt and joggers. I'll post more about these soon. I plan to get better photos first. 

I ended the weekend cutting down more scraps. I'm trying to be good about cutting down my scraps as I finish projects,  but I've been shoving some into a drawer until I feel like dealing with them. I decided to tackle them before the drawer fills up. 

My cart contains all my pre cut squares 3" and bigger, and my strips. The container on top holds my 2.5" and 1.5" squares and other smaller bits. Everything is sorted by color to make it easy to find what I need.  

I plan to get a few quilt backs prepared this coming week. I have so many quilt tops to quilt when my longarm is back up and running. 

Week ending September 10, 2023

It was a busy week, but I managed to find time to sew. I worked on a pattern test for Rachelle Handmade. First up was selecting some scraps to use and cut them into squares.

I recently ordered fabric from Spoonflower and the ordered arrived only a week after ordering! These are all from my shop. 

I also ordered myself the Electric Quilt 8 software when I caught on sale at a big discount. This software will allow me to make mockups of quilts and design my own patterns. 

I worked on my two projects for Blank Quilting Company. I had made the quilt blocks 2 weeks ago and only needed to put the blocks up on my design wall and sew them together. I received the Midnight Rendezvous collection by Raquel Maciel and the collection is gorgeous. I didn't like all the prints together and separated them into two groups to make two quilts. This one is The Lady from Villa Rosa Designs.  

This is the second Midnight Rendezvous quilt. I used the Harmony pattern from Villa Rosa Designs for this one. These patterns from Villa Rosa Designs are both only $2 each.

I finished one quilt on Saturday and got photos of it on Sunday. 

I then finished the second one on Sunday. I'll post a blog post for each once later this month.

I ended Sunday cutting into the crushed velvet from Minerva to make the Itch to Stitch Nusle Joggers. I decided to also make a t-shirt to go with them and picked out the Sheila Everyday Tee from 5 out of 4. 

I hope to get my joggers and t-shirt made this coming week. After they are made, I will probably cut down more scraps into squares for future use. I might try to finish a quilt I have cut out already. What I won't do is start any new quilts. I have a super secret project coming up that the fabric for should be arriving soon. I want to be able to start that project as soon as the fabric arrives. I also am waiting for my longarm robotics to arrive so I can catch up on a lot of quilting.

Week ending September 3, 2023

I get so much satisfaction from giving my quilts away. What makes me the most happy though is seeing my quilt being used and loved. This is a quilt I recently gifted and I loved getting a photo of it with their kitty enjoying it as well.

I went to visit my mom over the Labor Day weekend. She had one of the quilts I made for her on the bed in the guest room.

The guest room was my old bedroom when I was in high school. It did not look like this when I lived in it. The black and white checkered floor was added when my son was a baby and this room became his nursery at my mom's house as she cared for him from birth until 4th grade while I worked and after school.

She had another quilt I made and gave her on a bench in the room.

My mom and I always visit the thrift stores when I visit. On this trip I came home with 4 quilt tops. I plan to use these to practice on my longarm and will probably donate the finished quilts in the future. 

I decided to start on a pattern test on Sunday and pulled out some scraps to use.

Here is the stack of fabrics I'm going to start off with. 

I have two quilts that I have been working on that I need to finish. I will probably make the 4 quilt blocks needed for the pattern test I am doing and will then finish those 2 quilts that are waiting on me. All the blocks are finished, I just need to throw them on my design wall and sew everything together. Tomorrow (09/04) is Labor Day and a day off form work for me. I'm hoping I can get my four blocks finished tomorrow.