Sub-cutting done

It was mostly an "organize" day, but I did manage to get in some sewing time.  I got all of the strip sets cut.

Aren't they a lovely pile? 

Now to sew them all back together again. (Seriously, sometimes what we say makes us sound like we should be committed!) The pattern is a simple checkerboard. There's a great tutorial for this type of quilt over on redpepperquilts.com.

Two more Desert Nights blocks got done as well. The stack grows.

It's time for me to get crackin' on the packin'!

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Therapy Sewing

I sort of "took the day off" (if that's possible when one is retired) from things that should be done and instead did exactly what I wanted to do. 

Lots of cutting (some of this is from yesterday's cutting session).

Then lots of sewing.

Sometimes strip sewing is drudgery that must be done before the fun begins, other times it's therapy. Today it was therapy sewing. Sew strips...lots of strips....and don't think. I'm currently listening to Doctor Sleep by Stephen King as I sew.  I made piles of "twosies" (above) then put them together for "foursies" (below).

The ugh part came here:

I didn't get all the strip sets subcut - I got bored. (That, and it was getting late.)

I also got two more Desert Nights blocks done. That puts me at 16 blocks - a quarter of the way there. That's a good time to change the needle: they dull so quickly when paper piecing. Having a nice fresh needle was just the excuse I needed to do the therapy sewing today. Tomorrow I'll get back to more Desert blocks.

I wonder when I'll pack? I'm leaving Tuesday for 18 days (stay tuned for that adventure!). I'll probably pack Monday evening. That's what I do. Everything at the last minute. 

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Sewing and Cutting

I spent most of the day putting stuff back into the closets.  It's a perfect time for reorganization and really nice to get my arms around what I've got.  The best thing is that I finally got the garage cleared out enough to get the car back in. Yahoo! Poor car spent the hottest time of the year outside, baking.  But now it's back in its home.

I spent the evening cutting. And cutting. And cutting. Whew! But finally got the 60 fabrics cut for my next project. I also found time to get three more Desert Nights blocks done. Didn't even have to rip out tonight! Yay! But I didn't t take any pictures and now I'm too tired.  Maybe tomorrow, but now I'm going to bed.

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Productive, but not exciting

Seven more blocks done on the Desert Nights quilt (total done - 11).

The stack is a bit bigger. 

I had to recut one of the fabrics tonight because the "wrong" side of the batik was just way too wrong. So glad I still have more of that fabric in the stash.  :)

Closets installed tomorrow, then home redecorating is done for the year. Well ...  any redec that includes pounding and moving and inconvenience.  Celebrations are in order! Perhaps a martini tomorrow night. Stay tuned!

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So this is disturbing

I got a few more Desert Nights blocks done today.

Yesterday I mentioned that one of the batiks was "backwards" (wrong side up).  Turns out they ALL are. There is an error in the cutting instructions. Fortunately I used batiks and will be okay, but WOW!! That is a HUGE editing error! The entire pile of fabrics would have had to have been tossed had I used fabrics with a distinct right and wrong side. I can tell that I'm using the wrong side of the batiks, but it really is hard to tell the difference. Whew.  I'll continue working on these blocks - I need 64 of them - and the resulting quilt will be fine.  I will be the only one that knows it's terrible little secret.  Well .... And all of you will know. :)

Today was sewing day at my local quilts shop.  I worked on a binding.  

Still have a lot to go, but got almost to the second corner.  I took bindings instead of my machine because (a) I'm backed up on bindings again, and (b) I had to take my car to to the tire joint to remove a screw. Aargh.  But all is well now.

It's getting hot again. It was nice to have windows open for a couple of days.  Back to the air conditioner.  But right now it's time for The Blacklist so I'm outta here!

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A top finished, another begins

The Fat Quarter Fun top got finished yesterday.

I'm really glad I did the piano key border. There's so much piecing in this one that a plain ol' strip-of-fabric border would have looked rather out of place, I think.

Although I have bindings to do, I started another quilt instead. I've had it cut out for awhile. I made the first block last night to test the process.

It's paper pieced (I copied the pattern onto newsprint - so much easier to work with!), so I always have to retrain myself on how to do the Judy Neimeyer method. I did OK, with just a bit of a goof on that rightmost dark piece, but it's in the seam allowance so it will be forgiven.

I also had to test that light purple piece of fabric.  It's almost like metallic tissue and I was worried it might melt. But it was made for quilters, and it worked just fine.  I knocked the iron temperature down a hair "just in case".  

Thank you, quilting fairies, for batiks! It's really hard to tell if you've reversed a piece. Which of course I did. It will be forgiven in the overall quilt.

That's yesterday's progress.  Thanks for stopping by.