Mousie

I worked for about 2 1/2 hours, monday on princess quilt. Putting ribbon on for sashing instead of an appliqued vine I had considered. Had an appt. yesterday...not feeling up to par today at all, so have another one tomorrow. but I did get some adds to the stash yesterday. about a dozen and a half, 6" cuts and some cotton threads. Usually fabs I buy go to existing bundles, have to admit, these are for a new, future project, (blush)...but I was so good. I could have easily bought way more. Think the lady cutting my fabric thought, is that all you want? I'll have some leftover for appliques, after that project. Actually, just remembered, this is not a new project. These are going with existing reds. alright.
I got a new machine and haven't been up to doing more than setting it up, and reading book for now. I'll get some medicine tomorrow and maybe Friday or Saturday, I'll be on skates again...with training wheels of course, lol!

mpeters1200

quiltincrazy...I sure hope you feel better soon....feeling bad is crummy. I hope you get the answers you need to.

Well...I took the fabric that was going to make 81 squares for the 9 9patch blocks I need to fix the friends daughters quilt, washed/dried/pressed it and many of the pieces we were going to use for 2 blocks, were barely big enough for one. So....yesterday we went through all the fabric again. We pulled out more and made piles of 9 different pieces that way, if any shrank too much, we weren't depending on them for 2 pieces. Washed/dried/pressed them and labeled each square with a piece of paper telling me what block and what piece so they won't get confused. Hoping to have that project done by the end of the weekend after next...March 1, just to be safe. I can't believe it's March already! I have finished some projects, but it seems like I am not really making a dent in my list!

Had to add an emergency project to my 2009 list. A dear friend's wife was diagnosed with cancer. I'm making a ton of yoyo's to decorate some cancer caps. Her surgery is Monday with chemo a/o radiation in the days following. I want her to have her caps in time. I have all of them marked, now to cut and finish. I even have plans for the scraps for those....but only at the end of my list.

That ribbon sure sounds like a good addition to her quilt. I'm sure she'll love it!!

Mousie

melissa, sorry to hear about your friends wife. seems last couple of years, we hear of a new cancer case often. I will add her to my p's.
i know your looking forward to finishing this quilt so you can move on.
I know your enjoying the process with your friend though.
I can't believe it's almost march either! I've got four grandbaby quilts I would like to do this year, but got other projects in mind too. I guess i am going to have to make them my priority. The other three should go easier than the current one. I've learned a lot of don'ts on this one.
The biggest being don't start out to learn something new, thinking that a pattern is not all that important.
As long as i keep on keeping on, I know that at the end of this year, I am going to be satisfied. This thread has definitely been a big help to me. I may not make dozens of things, but I don't just come to a complete halt either. I think I am learning to let myself enjoy it all more, and that's the important part. :)

Mousie

well, as usual, this was a busy week, with 3 appt.s and grandbaby here some of the time.
well, I caved. I got the ribbon on the four princess panels, but I was just going so slow on the whole thing cause I am not as enthused about the look as i was at first. It's not bad, I just finally decided to start a beginner project that I thought might help me come back to this fresher. Now the problem is, I haven't had a dryer in weeks, and started cutting quilt out and need to wash/dry most of the fabrics. Maybe I can use my daughters dryer over the weekend.
I actually cut the main fabric pieces before I realized there is almost a certainty that it wasn't washed/dried yet. Decided I can't take a chance on drying the cut pieces, so I will probably wash/dry the pieced blocks and then re-measure them and pray! If they aren't 20 or 21" whatever books says, I will see if they are all the same. live, quilt and learn.....again. (sigh)...but, I never completely give up. :)

mpeters1200

I got so much accomplished the other day on friend's 9-patch quilt! I'm so excited. It took me most of the afternoon. I have to make 9 9-patch blocks. So I started with 81 pieces of fabric that the mom and I picked. But it's all decorator fabric so it was going to shrink like mad. So I washed it twice to get all the shrinkage out. That's a long story by itself as we had picked fabric and washed the first time and many of the pieces were then too small to make 2 little block pieces with. FRUSTRATING, so we went through all the fabric again looking for other pieces that would work well.

I pinned them together in block sections and washed. I cut all the pieces down the other day. I only did it one block at a time. Once I pressed, I cut them down to 3 1/2" and then I pinned a label on each piece: "block 1 piece 1, block 1 piece 2, etc." Time consuming to do it that way, but I know it will save me time and aggravation later.

Now I'm ready to piece, but have been really busy, today being no exception...maybe a little later.

When I made my Gramma's quilt, I picked blocks with special meanings, but also 7 of them were VERY simple. I bit off more than I can chew with a different project and quilting became work. If you work on something simpler, you'll be back in the swing of things before no time quiltcrazy!

Have a great weekend!

Mousie

u have a great weekend too, melissa! :D

Mousie

Been cutting out a patterned quilt. It is a beginner's pattern, but I sure do love the fabrics. If I do a good job, it will be a pretty quilt.
I can only stand in one place and keep bending for so long, cause of fibro. so I have five of eight fabrics cut. Some of them have 96 pieces. My hand only slipped twice and just guessing I have cut at least 200 pieces so far, so I feel good about that. One of them was minor, so I marked the seam allowance. Just an edge cut, so I'll skinny the seam a tiny bit, and good to go.
I did some mending, and made some dish rags out of dish towels.
This quilt will go a bit faster once I'm done cutting, so I can sit down. I said I wouldn't put pink roses on our bed, but then I thought, why not? I can always make a masculine themed quilt and change them out. I don't think my hubby will mind. We take spread off anyway. If I don't, he pushes it, till its on floor, and a hazard for me...yikes!
Till next time, happy creating! :D

mpeters1200

200 pieces a BEGINNER quilt??? Yikes, that's a lot.

I too have been thinking about different quilts to put on our bed. I have yet to make one and keep it for our bed, but I'm sure I'll make one eventually. I just inherited some really cool, funky fabric. As I was pulling it out of the box, one particular psychedelic FQ fell out of my hand and he said "oh no....I can see all that fabrics that will be on my bed soon." He knows me too well!!

Here is the thread for the most recent project. Cross another one off the list as the friend's daughter's quilt is finished, presented, and photographed! http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/17125.page

Onto my D9P's! I will admit, I hit a sale today and got some lightening McQueen fabric to use instead of the original racecars. I'm trying to learn something new with each project. The quilt I just finished taught me that no matter how pretty satin binding is and no matter how good it feels, it is a royal PAIN to put on!! I'm going to experiment on the Lightening McQueen D9P cutting on the length of the fabric instead of the width. We shall see.

Wow...this thread was a great idea. It sure is keeping me on track!

Melissa

Mousie

melissa, I didn't even realize how many pieces there were to this quilt until I was typing about it. I am not intimidated though, because a lot of them are 'framing' for star blocks. I have done some pinwheels for the princess quilt so points don't scare me at all.
Starting this quilt has helped my feelings toward the other project. I just needed a breather. I know when this one is finished I will be ready to go back to the other one. Besides, I have the princess quilt on my design board looking at me every day, saying Crystal sure is going to love me when you get me finished.
I love the blocks that you made for your friends little girl. I think what you did with both quilts was an excellent idea.
I know how attached kids can be. I once gave some stuff to a friend to put in a yard sale. I was trying to clean up a bit bc we were moving. One item was a patchwork dog that sat on the foot of my little girls bed.
I mentioned the move to the friend and she gave me the dog back and told me to put it on her bed once we were moved.
She was right. It helped the transition a lot, bc she had familiar things in her new room.
By having her old blankie and a new one, esp. with the newer prints, this little girl will be able to eventually 'trade up'. If I was her mom, I would put this new one where she could see it, so she will become used to it, too.
I'm happy for you, that you got another project finished. It encourages me too. I may be slow, but I feel like I keep moving forward. As long as I do that, whatever is done by end of year is going to let me know I did what I could.
This thread was an excellent idea. At the end of 09, I am going to be able to refer to it and see all that I have accomplished. We visit all over the board, but all this will be in one place. If a lot of ppl don't want to post here, that's ok. Whatever works for each one. I for one am finding it very helpful. :D

purplemem

I'm finding this really helpful also.

I'm still working on "Roses for Mama" after finishing Dad's "Music of Love" quilt. I'll be finished this month with Mama's. Next is one for my dh and myself, I have more than half the blocks finished for that one.

I have a baby quilt due in May, then the rest are Christmas presents for '09. So far, I'm on schedule. Thanks for the thread. It helps keep me on track. :lol: