Final Day of the See You In September Blog Hop

Yep, it is the last day of the "See You In September/Save RBD Gingham" Hop.  Yes, we had time off this summer to get 3 things done but my time is no longer my own.  I have not been goofing off in any way,  shape or form but found that I have needed every single day of it in order to get finished up. It helped to be  bringing up the rear!

 While I AM finished (but have plans for more gingham goodness), I am sorry to say that I have been more of a spectator than commenter so far this round.  I'm reading on the tablet at lunch time when it is not as easy to comment.  I keep thinking I will get to it later and then it doesn't happen.  You know how it goes.  Give me a few days and I'll make amends for that as there have been some really cool things posted and selected for wow and creativity.

As always a big "Thank You" to Mdm. Samm of Sew We Quilt for allowing me to participate and dreaming up these ideas.  Apparently her plan for us to "Save the Gingham" has been successful in part as the medium sized check is staying.  That's what I heard anyway, LOL.  Also Shari of Living with Purpose has outdone herself as head cheerleader/blogger herder.  Give both of them a big hand!

I share the day with the following so pop on over and show them some bloggy love, if you would.

Tuesday, September 16

Life, quilts and a cat too   <<<YOU ARE HERE>>>

Meadowbrook

Apple Avenue Quilts

Just Keep Swimming

Patchwork Sampler

Sew We Quilt

So what have I been up to??   

#1 Project

 It has become my tradition to make a Christmas tree skirt for the couples as my wedding gift to them, if they want one.  So far no one has turned me down yet!  When I was given the chance to go out to Colorado in mid August for my niece's wedding, I had been working on theirs.  It became obvious that it was going to have to be one of my items for the hop so I refrained from sharing any pictures in progress. Greg and Amber are not in a permanent living space at this point so I knew I could wait to send their gift.  It wouldn't have fit in my luggage anyway.  

 I asked about traditional colors when we talked about it.  When Amber said "blue" to go with her blue ornament collection, I had just the ticket.  Hooray!  I already had the fabrics and pattern for the Frosted Tree Skirt kit offered by Connecting Threads a few years ago.  (Julia and Blake wanted traditional colors instead of the blues in the kit.  I shared it for the HO HO HO Christmas in  July blog hop post last year).  

I had the blocks pieced before I left on my week long trip.  I was able to share a picture of it on the design wall with the bride.   It took two days to complete the top to flimsy and border it.  It took  another day to prep the back, make the bias binding and pin it.  Three days went into machine quilting it.  The picture may not show the cross hatching in the Puss in the Corner squares.  It took two more days to hand finish the binding.   There went another week to 10 days of the summer!

Excuse the indoor picture but it was sprinkling rain this morning.

#2 Project  Car Seat Hammock for my dog from Ex-Scapes

I bought the pattern and proceeded not to follow it, LOL.  It calls for a twill, duck or canvas for the backing and fleece for the top and folding the backing to the front for binding it.  No thanks!   I used this heavy, almost drapery like stuff on the front and back.  I also put the right sides together, stitched and turned it.  This allowed me to sew-in the webbing,  rather than sewing it on externally later.  Now I would have liked something snazzy like chevron stuff but it was too pricey.  This was not cheap either but the lady let me have what was left on the roll and that was another 2 yards of this stuff.  I may use it to make a dog bed for him, not sure yet.

While I don't think he will claw it up, it is a bit slippery and won't stay put very well.  The piece fastens around the front and back headrests with webbing and buckles.  The jury is still out on its effectiveness in keeping the car clean and him safe. It DOES keep him from climbing over it to get up into the front seat BUT (and you knew there was a but!),  he is a small dog and can burrow under it. For example, I dashed into the dollar store on the way back from walking in the park with him the other day and left him strapped in through his leash handle for about 5 minutes.  By the time I came out he was under the hammock, sitting on the console between the front seats and looking at the back seat!!   I strap his leash handle into the passenger front seat belt and roll down the back window so he can see out while in the car.  He whines if you don't roll it down but at least that is better than putting him in the carrier and having him both whine and try to dig his way to China!

And why didn't I take a picture of Oscar in the car??  Well, if the door is open, he is trying to get out, whether he is strapped in or not.  That idea does not work if I am not there to un-do him or guide his descent.  You will have to settle for this one, wanting on the side of the fence where I am on, always.  Where Skyler the mean old cat is?  Not so much.

#3 Several Gingham Goodness items AKA Sewing Room Makeover

Back in January I had laminate flooring put down in the sewing room.  DJ did some painting to freshen things up.  I reluctantly re-hung my ancient green Priscilla curtains which had been in place for 17 years, when we moved in.  It blocks the light but oh, so dated.

BEFORE

 AFTER

McCalls Home Dec In-A Sec #8217---touted as a 1 hour project for both the mock cornice board and the roll up shade.  HA! says I.  I used the Riley Blake "Farm Fresh" line by October Afternoon for the fabrics.  I barely knew what I was doing and consulted with Glynda for help in understanding the pattern and Robert, for the board and drilling.  I was supposed to use angle brackets but I think he misunderstood how I was to mount it and drilled down from the top.  It is screwed into the top of the molding.  While that worked, it also would have gotten in the way of how I was to mount the roll up shade on the back of the 1 x 3 board.  I took Glynda's suggestion of  mounting the shade up with Velcro applied to the window molding.  Now I can at least launder it. Unstaple the scallop thing and it can be laundered too.

Oh, one other thing---I took those dust catcher window pseudo pane things off of the window and then used Valspar frosting spray to obscure the vision through the window.  I got the weirdest cramp in my index finger for all the spraying out of the deal but it was so worth it, LOL as I have the light I need but some degree of privacy.   I can tell you right now I will NOT want to tie and untie that roll up thing every blessed day.  Skyler is not using his perch in here anymore and it is still too hot to want to open up windows so it does not matter to me if neither of us can see out.  I'm getting used to the change, LOL.  I lost some sewing time to waiting for glued on and pressed on Velcro to set up as well as that spray smell to dissipate.

My next coordinate was my Friday (the 12th) project---re-skirting the cutting/pressing table

My Saturday, Sunday projects.  I was re-doing the embellishments first thing this morning  No, amend that. First thing I was stitching up holes in Oscar's duck which was leaking fiberfil and I took the wing that was hanging on by a thread off.  Poor duck is down to one leg, one wing and half his face is gone.  Anyway my first two attempts at making a Kanzashi flower met with broken thread and an accidentally cut thread, respectively.  It was late and I was tired.  My first yo yo used a different fabric that had to be seamed---not a good idea.  I like this result better.

Rotary cutter holder, no pattern but I have one from the guild past president and followed hers, more or less.  The Dreamy Dresden Thread Catcher  is from Curry Bungalow's etsy shop.  I modified one of these before for the Hexie Queen Blog Hop in 30's prints.

I had the bag part of this all pieced yesterday afternoon and then decided I hated the boning look of the cuff plus I wanted the cuff to be much longer.   I re-cut the sections and modified it as I had the first time around by adding several inches to the lining cut heighth and backing it with heavy weight interfacing that I fused in place with stitch witchery.  It is stiff enough.  My contrasting strip is not near as narrow either.

Another view

I still have a good bit of fabric left and have plans for more gingham and coordinates goodness----

• replace my little basket around my pin tin ala Linda of Buzzing and Bumbling snack tray or fabric basket tutorial
• Replace the existing hot iron cover but may need to modify the pattern from Kay's Quilt Hot Iron Holder
• Sewing machine mat---there are free tutorials but I want mine bigger
• Cafe curtain to disguise the wires on the computer desk
• Another chicken pincushion??
• Mug Bucket from Buckets Gone Wild

The old stuff I want to replace will not go to waste as I plan on packing up a bag of sewing dupes and having it ready to go when I sew away from home, rather than stripping my room every time I go to a sew-in or quilt meeting.    BUT most of that can wait,  for now.  After all, The Rush Hour Hop is coming up next with my featured day of September 29th.  I have not even started, of course, other than buying fabric, etc for what I plan to make.  I am determined NOT to be working right up to the last minute.

Meanwhile, I thank you for hanging out with me for a little while today.  I hope you have enjoyed the hop and will come around for the next one!