Not a Hosta

Two years ago, my neighbor split her hostas and gave some to me.  I planted them on the shady side of the house next to the driveway.  One of them turned out to be a canna plant, not a hosta.  I thought cannas needed sun, but these are thriving in the shade.  They need to be thinned out this fall.

My garden doesn't look great this time of year.  It is too hot to do a lot of weeding. Some of my  flowers were planted years ago,  and since then, trees have grown up and are shading plants that need full sun. The day lilies aren't blooming very well.  I think they need to be split.  I have a lot of transplanting to do this fall.

Thread

I know lots of quilters buy lots of fancy threads.  I don't quilt my own tops, so I usually just buy Aurifil thread in a neutral color to piece with.  But I have a lot of lesser quality thread left over from my garment making days.  I store it on racks inside my walk in closet.  It is a hodgepodge of Mettler, Gutterman, Dual Duty and Piece Goods store brand. Piece Goods went out of business many years ago.  I think some of this thread is at least 25 years old.  My mother used to give me spools of Piece Goods thread (5 spools for $1) in my Christmas stocking when I was a teenager.  It is very linty, so I use it for sewing on the occasional button and zigzagging around linen when I cross stitch.

Karen at Sew Many Ways is hosting a Thread Organization Linky Party.

http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2012/07/thread-organizing-linking-partyshare.html

 

This week I made 2 more pillowcases for my son.  I also worked on my spider web quilt, but it's not done yet

Used this week: 2.25 yards

Used Year to Date: 59.25 yards

Added this week: 0 yards

Added year to date: 22 yards

Net Used: 37.25 yards

Pillows

I finished the six pillows for my porch swing.  Now I'm waiting for the porch swing to be finished. The fabric used in these pillows is not quilting cotton, so I didn't include it in my stash report.  I think I have enough left to make some kind of cover for my little table.

I did manage to get one pillowcase made before the electrical storm started.  I won't sew if it is thundering.  A friend of mine got a major shock a few years ago when she went to turn off her sewing machine just as lightening struck her house. 

Used this week: 1 yards

Used Year to Date: 57 yards

Added this week: 0 yards

Added year to date: 22 yards

Net Used: 35 yards

This pillowcase is for my 15 year old son.

Fat Quarter Sale

My LQS had a  fat quarter sale this week in honor of Independence Day.  I added 15 fat quarters to my stash. It has been a long time since I have bought any fat quarters.  They used to be my downfall.  I would buy 10 fat quarters every time I walked into a quilt store.  Now I'm being more careful about the amount of fabric I buy.

Used this week: 0 yards

Used Year to Date: 56 yards

Added this week:  3.75 yards

                                                           Added year to date: 22 yards

Net Used: 34 yards

 

I've gotten no quilting done this week, but I have made 4 pillows for my porch swing. 

 

They are all the same: blue floral with blue cording and zippers.  I was peasantly surprised by how few goof ups I had getting the zippers in.  I've done a lot of quilting in the past several years but not much home dec sewing. 

 

Phase 3 UFO FAL

It is time to set goals for the third quarter finish-a-long. The first project I want to finish is one I had on my second quarter post that I failed to complete.  This is my spider web quilt.  I'd like to get four more of the big blocks done.  Then I'll have a decent sized quilt top.

Next on my list is this scrappy batik quilt.  This was a QAL I found on http://piecemealquilts.wordpress.com/skill-builder-series/test-your-skills-sampler/  I am not sure that all the blocks have been posted yet.  I need to do some research and see if I need to come up with some blocks on my own to finish this quilt.

Here is a selvage quilt experiment that I started a couple of years ago.  I don't know why I didn't complete this one.  Maybe I ran out of selvages?  I do like this one and look forward to getting it finished. 

Last December, my needlework guild (Virginia Guild of Needlewomen) had a pinkeep project that I also failed to complete.  Most of the stitching is done, but they didn't give step by step instructions on how to finish it.  I'm going to have to think a little and decide how I want to do it.  I also have some holly leaves that need to go on part of it.  The stitching on this is over one thread, and my eyes don't like over one anymore.   Maybe that's why it didn't get done.

This UFO is a Drawn Thread pattern.  My friend Jodi stitched over half of it in 2005, according to the date on the piece.  It is over half done and shouldn't take more than 10 hours to complete, probably much less. 

 Then there are the pillows for the porch swing.  I don't like doing this kind of sewing, and I'm not sure why.  I have four done, two to go.  I'd like to finish them soon, before the swing is installed would be great!  A neighbor has agreed to help me do the big seat cushion because I don't think I'm up to a cushion that is 72 inches by 30 inches. 

Porch is Done!

Last week was crazy busy with the contractor, electricians, painter,  and plumber all here and trying to finish up.  Their goal was to get everything done on Friday.  But the final inspection couldn't be scheduled until today.  So I guess we will be officially done with construction today.  I have ordered a porch swing, but that won't be done until the end of the summer. 

We have a few little blades of grass peeking up through the hay, but this isn't really a great time of year to try and grow grass around here.  It has been in the 100s last week, and this week it is supposed to get the upper 90's every day.  I think we will need to replant grass in September.  We also have to plant bushes around the foundation to make the the architectural review board happy, but that won't be until this fall.  We are usually on water restrictions by the end of August, so it makes no sense to plant bushes we can't water. 

We've gone from a deck that was propped up with 2 by 4's to a screened porch and patio.  Here are  the pre-construction pictures.  http://sewingoutofmycomfortzone.blogspot.com/2012/03/porch-project.html

These are of the completed project:

Our utility room was originally a hall between the kitchen and garage.  Now it is a real room with space for dog crates. I think the weeks without a washer and dryer were worth it!

Finish-A-Long Second Quarter Check In

 Back in April, I listed 5 UFOs that I wanted to complete this quarter.  Three of them did not get 'all the way there'.  The zipper quilt went from this:

To this:

But it did not get quilted or bound.  The pineapple quilt went from this:

To this:

                But it also didn't get quilted or bound. 

It turns out that I didn't have as many spider web quilt blocks done as I thought I had, so this top did not get completed.

I did get the binding on my Dr. Seuss quilt.

And I FINALLY  completed one of my oldest UFO's, a cross stitch project by Long Dog Designs called Mouline Rouge.  I started this project in 2004.  Several of my stitching friends worked on this project as well.  It went from this:

To This:

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have this piece complete.  Here is my original post for this quarter's stitch along.      http://sewingoutofmycomfortzone.blogspot.com/2012/04/finish-long-phase-2.html

Dr. Seuss Quilt Done

I've been putting off binding this quilt for almost a year.  I had to bind it by hand because the backing was white, and the binding was dark.  I knew machine binding  would have to be perfect to look right on this quilt, so I chose to bind by hand.  This was a free pattern (Let's Party) on the Robert Kaufman website.

Used this week: 9.0 yards

Used Year to Date: 56  yards

Added this week:0

Added year to date:18.25 yards

Net Used: 37.75 yard