some output

Getting a bit done on these pillowcases and smaller bags for quilt show items. Here are the Christmas themed ones with the one on the left going to my niece for her tree skirt.  The other one can house the Christmas Patience Corner, come show time.

Then this stack of 4 are using up some recent quilt back yardage for some of the small wall hangings I have entered.  I may need two more for "Juggle" and "Reflections" but will check the supply of old pillowcases first.  I seamed them on the serger but they need the "cuff" edge stitched down on a regular machine.  There is no room to have both machines up so that task will wait till I switch out the serger.

Then this one is Halloween themed.  All prepped and ready to go in for the first seam on the cuff.  I am liking the "glue pinning" idea I shared yesterday.  You may not see this one completed as it may show up in Wicked Blog Hop #4 in 2014.  LOL  I have several ideas for that one!

On another note relating to my quilting group, the Bama Belles.
Recently I had delivered a total of 14 quilts that were to go to Gene's Quilt Angel project.  He delivered these to Ogden House this past Saturday.  I am going to refer you to his two recent posts about this. Links below but as explanation.
 
In the first post and video, Lois name was pulled for the drawing.   I did not tell the girls that they were entered in a sponsored drawing for just for having a quilt they shared for this project.  (Gene had 5 sponsors and they are listed in the tab area.)  He emailed me to ask about her contact information since I am the go-between.  I told him I should probably call her first to tell her she was entered in the first place and get permission to share her information.  I spot Bev's "Owl in the Garden" quilt in one of the still photos.  A couple of Lois' contributions (the Split Nine Patch is one that Lois just turned in) and even the back of one of mine are in the shots.

The 2nd post has video of a young man thanking the person who made his quilt who I know is our Bev.  Gene said he was thrilled to have a fishing quilt.  Well, you can read what Gene posted about the story behind it.  Apparently there will be another video in a few days.  Wonder if that might show a familiar to the group quilts?

http://blog.geneblack.com/2013/12/angel-quilts-delivery-and-winners.html

http://blog.geneblack.com/2013/12/quilt-angels-teen-speaks.html

I am glad that we could help Gene out this year. Though the ones I had made were going there anyway, we had enough of hand to do more.   The girls leave it up to me where to donate the quilts and sometimes make suggestions but they do prefer that they stay here in the area or the state of Alabama if we can.  I am so proud of this group of ladies who are kind to each other as well as people unknown to them.   Pro bono quilting is not a membership requirement, by any means.   Some participate by finishing binding, donating to cover the batting costs and helping to pin.  One gal made my week and year by asking if we had any tops that she could practice her free motion quilting lessons on.  Do I ever!!!  Three quilts in my stack that I had not originated were gone, just like that!  Love you all.  

Just talking about a task does not get it completed and besides, I have laundry to do, a bed that needs made, etc etc etc.  THX for dropping by---------

trying something

Yesterday I mentioned needing to make a pillow case for my niece to store the recently made tree skirt.  I had sent a note that I "owed" her one, LOL.

I pulled the written instructions from an area quilt shop and I guess enough time had elapsed that I forgot how to do the cuff and the rolling up of the body.   All I knew is that I wanted to sew it on the serger so the edges would be finished nicely.

Off to you tube land.  Cynthia Dickerson has an instructional video posted HERE but minus the accent strip. Because I was not clear on the directions, I thought I would make a trial run pillow case and Kristine would get the better of the two.  I am going to need extra cases anyway come quilt show time so no loss of time or effort, right?

I got the job done but I had to pin twice and actually reach in and pull the pins I had just placed.  Pins and the serger do not really mix close to the edge anyway---or you pin parallel to the edge and back a good bit from the presser foot.

Fast forward to today but still side tracking, LOL.   Sharon Schamber advocates using little dots of glue in doing her binding and uses Elmer's glue but replaces the applicator with a very fine tip metal set up.  DJ had repaid me for one of the Christmas gifts I ordered and said maybe there was some other little thing that I wanted to get with the re-payment.  There was actually.  A Passionate Quilter had a post that she had found a 14 pc bottle and tip set at Michael's made by Loew and Cornell.  Joann's had them online as well---and for a reduced rate.  I knew that my area Walmart didn't have anything like this on hand so I ordered it. Well, I also found a Marti Michell set G hexagon and companion pieces template set that I had my eye on for some time and cheaper than directly from marti.  My sweet Bama Belles had given me some mad money so the template set will be from them.

I remembered that I used to have a Roxanne Glue Baste It set up at one time.  Did I still have it?  Where is it?  Not with the applique/hand quilting bag.  Not in the cart around supply basket where it had once been.  I found it in the applique tote that holds the templar, the teflon pressing sheet etc  The Roxanne set up is like a 20 gauge syringe that has been whacked off so there is no beveled edge as a real needle would. It does clog up.  Ask me how I know!  It will still be good to have a back up option if one is soaking or unclogging or one to carry along with me on quilting days.

So back to the story of what I am trying----I am sticking down the accent strip with the little glue dots and heat setting it with the iron as Sharon advises.  I had not stuck any glue dots between the layers of the accent strip but I think it looks like there is enough glue that it seeped up to the top layer anyway.  Sharon does glue her binding together first so the accent strip IS like binding since you double it with the wrong sides together.  My plan is to dot glue the wrong side of cuff to the accent strip right side up, roll up the body and then only have to pin that last edge.  Or maybe glue the whole deal and skip the pins all together on the cuff part anyway.  Takes time to pin and remove them after all.

I DO want to try that binding deal at some point, maybe when I get around to quilting up the 3 pro bono quilts I have on hand though the binding is already pressed and rolled.  It can be un-done.  Mainly I just want to be able to do a better job of it in the machine for the donation quilts anyway.  My own personal projects I would probably continue to do it by hand-----unless I get really, really good at it, LOL.  Like wayyyyy better than I do now.

Well, back to the prep work.  Pictures to follow of both pillow cases and whatever else I manage to get done.

a small finish

I officially finished the cleaning/purge business yesterday afternoon with a mop of the kitchen floor. Woohoo!  Saturday, after I posted, I attacked the sewing room closet mess. One good thing there is that I found a spot for some boxes of materials and block of the months, just by shifting things around. It looks sooooo much better in there. I have a better inventory of batting on hand including what can be seamed to make something usable for another project BEFORE I order more.

I am glad that I took the time off from sewing to make all that happen.  It is nice to have a neat and tidy home even if no one else but me knows I cleaned all the dusty lint stuff off the air return.  Well, I guess you know it now too, LOL.

Today, I cut out the pillowcases that will go with the PopStix quilt using the leftover backing material.  I needed to sew a side seam in the dotty body on one to get the thing made but hey, it worked.

At the last minute I decided to go with that pink striped polished cotton (or whatever it is, LOL)  I have pink sheets so this will sort of go with those. 

The color is off. More like the picture above but with a hint of green.  You get the idea of what the deal looks like anyway.

What's next?  I suppose I could work on the quilt binding.  However since that is not my favorite thing, I don't believe I'll spend my holiday doing it.  My husband will be having a procedure on Thursday and the outpatient department has already warned us to anticipate being there for 6 hours!  Yikes.  I know I will be doing some knitting or embroidery then as I do not just sit, ever, even here at home.

Think I will get some measurements on my serger and think about that cover idea I have.  I got the fabric for it last week so that's a start!

Hope you have had a happy and safe holiday weekend---------

One week later..........

I sure didn't mean for a whole week to go by without posting.  I meant to post yesterday as a matter of fact and even had a couple picture to share but somehow it didn't happen, LOL.  Thunderstorms and having to power down the computer may have had something to do it with it.

 I have finished up the piecing on HO HO HO blog hop project 2 now and went over to the church meeting place to pin both one and two fairly early on Friday morning.  I was home in time for lunch which was all DJ was concerned about.  Rather than set up to start quilting, I finished up the binding on the remaining two sides of this Tons of Black Challenge quilt from last year.   Now it is ready to be counted for the guild obligation but I am allowed to donated it for the Bama Belles cause too.  I am thinking that this might be a good one for the Ogden House project that my friend Gene Black headed up last year provided they are doing it again this year.  You can read about the efforts HERE.

I can't show you the other stuff so this will have to do!  Pattern Source:  Quilting Assistant Mock Trip Around the World.  I would do another of these in a heart beat as the blocks can be arranged just about any way but I like this medallion style one probably the best.  The website gives you a couple of other ideas but I came up with a few others.  See my past post HERE for that.

I am also considering making a pillow case/gift bag for projects 1 and 2 but I have never done one of those roll up type deals.  I mentioned that to my friend Norma yesterday but I had a kit that I had one at guild to practice on first.   I said I would probably have to watch a video first to get through the process---or holler for Jane to help me, LOL.  She has made quite a few of them so I knew where to turn.  Norma came up with a couple of links before I had a chance to google it.

Missouri Star Quilt Company has one that she finished up the interior seams on the serger found HERE.  Robin Gallagher of Robin Quilts, Etc. also has a video for the pillow case but uses a french seam on the remaining two sides  HERE.   I recently said that I would like to have a basic serger and this would have been a good chance to use one.  I did the french seams BUT see how much off I am where this band meets?  Actually I think it is my fault for not re-cutting the strip in the kit.  The quilt shop tears their fabric.  I pressed it is half as instructed but there are spots where it is about an 1/8 of an inch off in the width.  I know because 1) I can see it is NOT even and 2) I measured it after the fact. 

Robin said to seam it on the other two sides, like an L, at first a quarter inch seam sewing with wrong sides together  and then turning it and doing a 1/2 inch seam.  to encase the raw edges.  I know how to do french seams from the old garment sewing days.  That just made for a big blob in the corner that I ended up clipping anyway.  I should have done it one seam at a time and it might have been easier to press it too.  Oh well, this was a "try it and learn" endeavor.  I know what I would do differently next time.

It is sort of cute though, isn't it?  Ballerina mice.  Who knew?   If they are still wanting these at guild I may donate it.  If not, maybe we can do a few more and send them with our quilts when we donate them down the line.   OR I might just use it myself, LOL.  Probably not. 

Other than that I did a bit of research for a hexagon idea I have for the late August hop.  I need to know how big it might finish so I  have cut something out to try my theory.  This is a case of combining a few things from a few sources to get the result I THINK I want.  It may not work but then again, it just might, LOL. 

Here we go again with the thunder bumpers and it is pouring down rain!  Same thing happened yesterday and we had two inches fall in a very short time.  Skyler has seen enough and is heading for his hiding spot under my bed!  Thankfully, I had run the grocery errands before this came blowing in.   I had planned on quilting today but that may need to wait till things calm down a bit in the weather department.  I'll swap out machines anyway.  Plus there is a whole boatload of binding to press as well. 

Hope you are having a good weekend in whatever you have chosen to do----