No More Tears - And a Finished UFO

I'm counting this quilt DONE! I started it in 2005. It's been tossed into the UFO pile on several occasions, but I finally decided DONE is better than PERFECT. There's still a hint of pink on the background which is not showing up in the picture. And there are only 2 packages of crystals - amber and red. When I ran out of crystals, I sewed the bead back on that came off in the wash, turned it over and signed it with a Pigma Pen.

48 Hours Later

Looking at the backyard, it's hard to believe that 48 hours ago, there was 5 1/2" of snow in the yard. It warmed up significantly Sunday. Now it's raining.

Several people suggested Shout Color Catcher and/or Synthrapol to get the bleeding out of my Poinsetta quilt. I know it didn't look bad in the photo, or in a dark resturant, but in the light of day, it was really bad. Sunday afternoon I bought some Synthrapol and washed the quilt according to directions. You should have seen me shuddering at the though of HOT watter on the quilt. The only way I was able to use HOT water was knowing that I had nothing to lose. It still wasn't good, so I ran it though the wash again. Now, in bright light I can see the spot (looks like the photo), but in dimmer light it's not too bad. I'm going to go ahead and put the crystals on.

Old Tobacco Road Center Complete

The center of OTR is done. I think it's growing on me. Now I've got to locate the instructions for the next step, and the rulers to make the flying geese. I'm not certain if they will be yellow geese on purple skies or purple geese on yellow skies.

Stash Report Week #13

No fabric purchases, just the hot fix tool and a couple of bags of crystals for the Poinsetta quilt.

I did get plenty of pieceing done this week, but it was fabric I had cut prior to the fist of the year, so I'm not counting it.

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 50.25 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 22.08 yards

Net Stash: +28.17 yards

March Snow

I've continued work on my OTR and now have the rest of the blocks sewn together into rows. I thought I'd take a break and check on the snow.

It's been snowing for about 6 hours. So far we've accumulated 5 1/2" -- at least in my backyard. I just heard a weather update that said the snow is supposed to be tapering off.

Moving Along the OTR

For the last couple of days I've been working on my Old Tobacco Road quilt, a Bonnie Hunter mystery from last fall. I now have the center half finished and decided to stand back and see how it looks.

Now, back to the sewing machine.

I Could Just Cry

Yesterday I put a few hot fix crystals on the poinsettia quilt. It was my intention to put them all over the poinsettia print. Never having done that before (embellishing is outside of my comfort zone), I only put a few on before I washed the quilt. I wanted to make certain they, and the beads I sewed on last week would stay on the quilt.

I washed the quilt like I do all of my quilts. Cold water, gentle cycle (or delicate, which ever one is the 'softest'), Liquid Ivory and a Shout Color Catcher. Also in the wash to help protect the beads were too small lap quilts which have been washed several times (one is 18 years old).

Pulled the quilts out and tossed them in the dryer.

When I pulled the quilts out, I discovered the red batiks had bled all over the off-white background. I could just cry. The photos don't show the bleeding well. It's worse in person.

The batik fabric was prewashed before I used it. In fact, I used this same fabric/pattern to make sweatshirts for all the women in my family for Christmas 2004. My sweatshirt has been washed at least 15 times with out any bleeding (picture is when the shirt was made).



I'm glad now that I didn't put all the crystals on the quilt. But can this be salvaged? I've had 4 suggestions so far: 1 - rewash with a Shout color catcher; 2 - use a dye remover; 3 - take some of the offending fabric and dot on more color; and 4 - (from DH) give it away and start over.

I don't have any more of the fabric -- except for what's on the sweatshirt - and it's not bleeding. The center section of the quilt was finished several years ago, and I got the borders on it about a year ago. I didn't have any border fabric to use for the binding, so I had to buy something else - not that you can really tell that it's different.

Anyone have any success getting dye out? Or ideas on how to 'fix' this? I'm open to suggestions. And here I thought I was going to get another UFO done before the end of the month.

Old Tobacco Road - Part #3

I've been working on my OTR the last couple of days and now I have part #3 done. Step #4 is the layout. I need to do some quilting, so I think this will go back into the box and I'll take it with me to the reteat to work on next month.

Stash Report Week #12

No fabric in or out this week. I did however aquire a box of buttons from the Kansas City Freecycle list (Thanks, Nancy!) and a ruler. Technically the ruler is my DHs. He bought it to use when he does seating charts for his band concerts.

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 50.25 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 22.08 yards

Net Stash: +28.17 yards

A Nearly Finished Quilt

I started this quilt in November of 2004. Hung it up to take a look at it and decide on the borders and discovered I had the background fabric flipped over. It wasn't pretty in good light, so into the pile of UFOs it went. A while back I pulled it out and got the top completed. I finished quilting it last week and finally got the binding on it Thursday or Friday night.

I'm not big into embelishing, but I really like the red beads I've sewn to the borders between the holly leaves. (They are easier to see if you click on the photo). Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can find some gold and red crystals. Thus 'A Nearly Finished Quilt'.

Half a Music Quilt

Off work on time, I fixed dinner and then puttered around the house before sitting down at the sewing machine. One more row has been added to DH's music quilt. I'm half way there now.

No New Projects

No New Projects needs to be my mantra. Let's face it. If I ever find time to sew in the next few weeks, I have plenty to work on -- I'm only on Step # # of Old Tobacco Road; I only have 6 rows of 14 sewn together on my DH's music quilt; the Pink and Brown and the Stack-n-Wack quilt both need borders; and then there are the other 30 quilts that are in various stages of piecing, another 30 tops of various sizes which need to be quilted and the 20 PIGs which have been identifed and lined up if I ever feel the need to cut into "new" fabric.

My only problem is Day & Night from Quilt in a Day arrived in the mail yesterday.



I LOVE the cover quilt - black and white with red accents. I don't have enough black, white and red fabric in my stash to make this quilt or even a 4 block table runner. Made the Quilt in a Day way, scrappy won't cut it. Nonetheless, yesterday I dug through my yardage boxes to see what I could find. I came up with 2 possibilites.

The Dark Pink, Light Pink and Black accent option:



And the Pink, Yellow and Purple accent with Turquoise butterfly borders option:



No new projects. No new projects. No new projects. Maybe I'll simply put the fabric back in the yardage boxes, the book on the shelf and the template in the template box and call it a night.

Stash Report Week # 11

I still don't have the Poinsetta quilt bound. I got called from work and spent most of the day working. I took a quick nap, ate dinner and then settled in for the evening shift. That went a lot smoother, but I still had to hang around, so I worked on the pieced sashings for the music quilt. The fabric was already cut for the sashing, so I'm only counting the fabric I cut for the binding.

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 50.25 yards

Fabric Used this Week: .5 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 22.08 yards

Net Stash: +28.17 yards

Not Much Quilting Going On

It seems like that's my refrain for the past few weeks.

No picture yet, but I have finished the quilting on the Poinsetta quilt, squared it up and cut my binding. I'm stalled at the moment since I'm not certain how/where I want to hang the quilt. I'd like to put the hanging sleeve on the quilt as I bind it.

I'm considering the "No See Ums" by The Hang-Ups Company. The Poinsetta quilt will measure 52" square when it's done. That's about as large of a quilt as the space can handle. I've got other quilts ranging in size from 18" across to 45". The smaller ones (less than 20" square) I sew rings to the corners and then hang on a 3M Command type hook. What can I say, I painted the walls this summer and don't want nail holes.

I'm on call this weekend. Maybe work won't call and I can get some quilting done while I'm waiting for the phone to ring.

Stash Report Week #10

I'm still working late, so very little sewing is getting done. Monday I snuck off and purchased some beads to use for holly berries on the poinsetta quilt. I'm happy to report I got them on sale and that's the only quilty thing I purchased this week.

Thursday night I realized I didn't have a block made for a birthday swap I'm participating in. The birthday girl wanted purple, teal and cream. To me teal is one of those colors that is open to interpretation, so I think that's why I didn't get it made back in January. I dug through my stash and found something which I hope she will like. I must say I was pleased with the block when I finished it. It goes in the mail in the morning.

My poinsetta quilt is sitting on the end of the irnoing board, neglected.

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 50.25 yards

Fabric Used this Week: .25 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 21.58 yards

Net Stash: +28.67 yards

Stash Report Week #9

This past week had the potential for lots of quilting. I was off from work Monday and Tuesday and DH went to convention Thursday and will be home until later today.



Monday and Tuesday I cut up some scraps into squares, blocks and strips following the Scrap User's System After:



Then Tuesday I popped down to Heritage Fine Fabrics and picked up fabric for the border to the black and white Strip Twist and backing and binding for my Poinsetta quilt.


I've got to quilt in the holly leaves on two of the borders, then add the stem all the way around. Then I'm going to add some sort of red "berry" between the leaves and in the corners.

Well, here's the report

Fabric Added this Week: 5.5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 50.25 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 2.125 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 21.33 yards

Net Stash: +28.92 yards

Pam