Carolina Christmas Continues

I've gotten 48 small poinsettia blocks done.  These need to be sewn together in 12 sets of 4.  I hope to get that done tomorrow.  I will soon need to stop sewing and start cleaning because  about 30 people are coming to my house for Thanksgiving.

 

 

To see more design walls:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/11/18/design-wall-november-18-2013/

 

The Backup Machine and Carolina Christmas Whine

I sew on a Bernina 1260 that is about 17 years old.  My machine has been in the shop this week for its annual cleaning, so this week I've been using my son's 830 Record.  The Bernina tech told me that the 830 is considered a perfect sewing  machine.  It is still in  high demand  after 40 years because it is a great machine. 

Perfect or not, I miss my 1260.  I like having a needle up/down button.  I miss the way my 1260 can sew backwards without my holding down a button.  I even miss the razor thread cutter on the side.  My 1260 foot peddle is more sensitive than the one on the 830, which seems to only have a super fast or super slow speed. This sewing machine also likes to grab the corners of triangles and pull them into the bobbin area, even when using the leader/ender technique.  I am grateful to have a backup machine, but I will be glad when mine is out of the shop. 

Another thing I feel like whining about is this unit:

I've made almost 200 of them for this quilt.  Some of them look pretty good, but most of them are mediocre, just a hair too big or small or not quite square on the ends.  Quilting muggles will never notice, but it is driving me crazy.  A few of these units were so skewed that I decided not to use them.  

Is there a better method than sewing a neutral square to the end of the red rectangle on the diagonal? I actually drew  the diagonal lines on the triangles, hoping to improve the accuracy of my units, but it didn't really seem to matter.  I just made a boatload of these units this past summer for Lazy Sunday and had similar accuracy problems. Usually I get more accurate the more repetitions I do, but I can't say I'm really improving at this.  If anyone has a more accurate method, please let me know.  I like making units a sliver bigger than needed and trimming them down to the correct size, but am not quite sure how to do this with this unit.  If I knew the name of it, I would google it.  Someone must know a better way.

This week I got in about 3.5 hours of sewing time and made some progress, but I'm not as far along as I'd like to be.

For more Bonnie Hunter quilt progress:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/bonnie-challenge-update-2/

Carolina Christmas Continued

I've gotten a moderate amount of piecing done this week on Carolina Christmas.

All 192 neutral and gold parts are done.  I have completed 40 of the 192 red and neutral 'petal' units, and have another 80 half way done.  I am saving my bonus HSTs from this quilt.  I have a boatload of them right now because I saved the bonus HSTs from Lazy Sunday too.  Using up my  2 inch bonus HSTs will have to be a project for next year. 

Jo, my ironing board looks as bad as yours does!  Maybe making a new cover should be on my short list for 2014.

To see more Bonnie quilt progress:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/bonnie-challenge-update/

Carolina Christmas

I spent last week cutting trash scraps for Carolina Christmas.  Trash scraps are the winkled up balls of odds and ends of fabric that never properly get sorted.  Trash scraps are the kind of scraps a lot of quilters throw out. Trash scraps include the bandannas the dogs get when they go to the groomer. Trash scraps are lots of work to harvest:  they have to be starched and ironed flat before they can be cut.   I've gotten all the pieces cut for the poinsettia blocks cut.  My goal is to finish all of these blocks before Thanksgiving.

 

I cut some extra 2 1/2 inch neutral squares.  I don't think I've made a quilt of Bonnie's where I didn't need a few ( or 200) of them.  I'll use the extras in this coming mystery.

 

To see more Bonnie Quilts:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/the-bonnie-challenge-update/

Stash Report

I used 2.5 yards this week in Julio's quilt.  I also bought 13 fat quarters (buy 12, get 1 free) because I am so low on yellow and orange, both colors that are going to be used in Bonnie Hunter's new mystery, Celtic Solstice.

Used this week: 2.5 yards
Used Year to Date:  82,5 yards
Added this week: 3.25 yards
Added year to date:  86.625 yards
Net Added:  4.125 yards

To see more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/10/27/stash-report-week-43-2013/

People have been posting beautiful arrays of fabric they are going to be using for this mystery.  I am going to start with my scraps first before I cut into any fat quarters.  Otherwise, those ugly scraps will NEVER be used.  Mix up the uglies with some pretties, and no one will ever notice how dreadful some of the scraps I have are.  Here are my fabrics for Celtic Solstice.

I also started cutting  scraps for another of Bonnie Hunter's quilts, Carolina Christmas.  I am going to join Jo and Nell in a Bonnie Hunter along.  The goal is to finish a BH quilt by Thanksgiving.  I won't finish the entire quilt, but I'd like to finish all of the poinsettia blocks by then. 

http://www.joscountryjunction.com/join-me-and-nell-on-a-bonnie-challenge/

Big Quilt, Little Quilt

I have finished the top for my brother's baby's quilt.  It is made from my brother's, my BIL's and my husband's shirts. 

This is a Swirly Girls Pattern, Patchwork PDQ.  It is super simple.  All the Swirly Girls patterns I have used have had very clear directions.  This quilt is 45x 60 inches. I had a lot of shirt scraps leftover, so I made a smaller version they can use in a stroller or car.

 

I ordered gray minky for the back and will take them both to the longarmer as soon as it arrives. 

Wrapping A Quilt

I spent a long time trying to fold my sister's quilt to fit well into the pillowcase.  I don't like to use  paper to wrap gifts, if I can help it.  It seems so wasteful. I finally came up with this:

 

She may guess that she is getting a quilt.  But if I draw someone's name in the family Christmas drawing, it is a good chance he or she will be getting a quilt from me, and everyone knows this already!