Sewing Room Sunday & the 5 -> 10 year plan

 5 years and counting for this graduation quilt !!!   I've been able to do some machine quilting here and there over the past week and now can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel !  (and I'm only doing straight line quilt in the ditch quilting .... nothing fancy)

  ...... and 10 years (or more) and counting for this pile of fabric ...... which I wrapped up all pretty with a birthday bow and an I.O.U. note for my sister's 40th birthday ....... which was 13 years ago TODAY !!!  So, Happy Birthday Sis !!! This is how far I've gotten on that quilt I promised you  ...... so give me another 10 years or more and it should be done !!  (just don't change the color of your living room !)   

 

Good thing I have understanding relatives and friends !!

 

Be back soon!

Toodles,

Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Batting that works like a charm !!!

I really really really like Mountain Mist Gold-Fuse  Baste Free FUSIBLE Cotton - Polyester Batting !!!!  ( and , No,  they do not pay me to say that ...... but if they want to, that would be nice !!) .  Anyhow,  so far , I have used this batting for the past four bed size quilts I have made .... and I love how they came out !!!   NO PUCKERS on the back !!!!!  I don't know if it's me, or my sewing machine (or possibly both of us cause neither one is a spring chicken anymore), but no matter how meticulously I lay out my quilt layers, and tape down the backing, and smooth out the layers, and pin every few inches using non - fusible batting,  I end up with smooshed up or puckered quilt backs as I'm machine quilting ( with a walking foot) ........ grrrrrrrr !!!!!    So, a few years ago,  I switched to Mountain Mist Gold- Fuse and I think I'll "stick" (no pun intended) with it !!! 

 

 

 This is what works best for me .....on our ping pong table in the basement,  I lay out and smooth the backing out;  then tape down the edges with blue painter's tape.  Then I spread out the fusible batting , trying to get out all the little wrinkles as best I can.  Then, the quilt top

 Next I loosely pin baste it to keep it together since I have to pick it up and take it upstairs to iron/fuse it .......( I have been tempted to just iron/fuse it on the ping pong table, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be a good idea)

 I start in the center , removing safety pins as I press out to the edges ....... shoving all wrinkles towards the edges.   When everything on the top is nice and smoothed out.......

I flip the quilt over and press the back......

....starting in the center and smooshing all the wrinkles out to the edges and off into the atmosphere......  When the back is smooth and wrinkle - free...

 I flip the quilt over and give the top one final press to smooth out any new wrinkles that may have popped up from pressing the back.  At this point, or at any point during the pressing,  you can pull the layers apart easily to do any readjusting you might need to do.

When it's all nice and wrinkle - free,  I loosely pin baste it again ( since I'm never sure just when I'll actually get around to doing the machine quilting).

...... and there it is ....... nice and crisp !!!!   Another fuse- basted quilt ready for machine quilting.

 

Now I haven't really had to buy this batting lately  since I bought about 6 rolls online a few years ago and still have one more roll left.  I'm guessing a lot of places might not carry it and you probably have to just "Google"  Mountain Mist Gold Fuse batting and see what comes up and who might carry it.  I really hope they still make this because I swear by the nice finished quilts I get when I use it.  If  any of you know where you can buy it could you leave a comment for me with the info ?  Thanks !!

 

Be back soon !

Toodles,

Mary Anne ( aka Mare)

 

What should this be ??? W.I.P Wednesday

Well here's (yet another ) work - in - progress.  Seems there's an endless supply of those around here !  I designed and stitched this a couple of YEARS ago as and Easter project ; then put it away ....... and dug it up today to try and think what to do with it .  It's not really big ... measures about 8 " x 8 " .   Guess I could make a (fill in the blank ???)    

Anyhow,  these are the ric rac polka dot painted wooden eggs I made even before the "what do I do with this " Easter stitchery  that inspired the Easter stitchery in the first place.   At least the ric rac polka dot painted eggs belong somewhere (i.e. in that Easter dish).

Speaking of Easter "dishes" ..... how about Lucy and Ethel !! (you can never go wrong with an ice bucket and a feed sack as Easter bonnets )

 

Since it's Wednesday .... and since this is a "work in progress" .... I'm linking up with the gang over at  W.I.P Wednesday

 

Be back soon!

 Toodles,

Mary Anne (aka Mare)

 

LOVE these new books !!!

  I recently got a couple of books (because , like fabric, you can just never have enough!).   I LOVE both of these books !! I've already folded down the corners of just about every page to mark the quilts I want to make !  This first one is "Strip Savvy" by Kate Henderson .  All of the quilts are made with jelly rolls (or 2 and 1/2" strips if you feel like cutting them yourself.)  REALLY REALLY cute ideas /designs !!!!

This second book , "25 Ways to Sew Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes & Charm Packs" is by Brioni Greenberg and it is GORGEOUS !!!!   The first quilt (out of ALL of them in this book) that I want to make is the one on the cover .  I ~ just~ LOVE ~ it !!!!!!!!!

 

 BUT ...... I am going to try and restrain myself from starting yet another (10) project (s) right now (maybe) since I have that ( 5 years in the making ) graduation quilt to finish  (before it rots !)   ......but then again, self control is NOT one of my strong points !!!!(ask any chocolate chip cookie that crosses my path!)

 

Be back soon!

Toodles,

Mary Anne (aka Mare)

       

Happy First Day of Spring !!!

Sooooooooo........the calendar says today is the first day of Spring ........  well, here in the lower end of the Poconos in Pa it doesn't quite feel  "Springy"  outside  yet!   That doesn't mean I can't force it to look like Spring inside with some pretend and real Spring flowers and plants.  These tulips and forsythia are fakers ................

......but these pussy willows are the real deal thanks to The Philadelphia Flower Show a couple of weeks ago.  (I just LOVE pussy willows !!! To me they just say "Spring" right out loud !)

.......and speaking of shouting "Spring" how about the new Martha Stewart magazine !!!  Isn't that bunny in the basket of flowers the ultimate in "Springy-ness" !

..... AND  the April /May issue of Mary Jane's Farm  PLUS a charm pack of her new fabric "Bee My Honey"  has me tip toeing through the no where in sight tulips !!!  I JUST LOVE MARY JANE'S FARM  magazine and her new fabric !!!!!!!!

 

So, Happy Happy Spring !!!  May your daffodils soon pop up and the robins fly over and poop on your car !!  (that's how I know it's really spring ...... the darn robins seem to take perfect aim at my windshield).

 

Be back soon!

Toodles,

Mary Anne (aka Mare)

(Another) Work In Progress

Well this poor quilt top has been sitting around for a few YEARS waiting and waiting to be quilted.   I started this as a high school graduation quilt for my nephew.  It was # 5 on the bottom of a pile of 5 quilt tops .  I finished the other 4 over the past 8 months, and now it's time to finish up #5 !!!

   So, I'm linking up with W.I.P.Wednesday at Freshly Pieced since this poor quilt top definitely falls into the category of a work in progress !!!! (and then some !)

Anyhow, this is a simple quilt that I put together without any sort of pattern or instructions;  I just wanted to let the fabric do most of the work. And since my nephew loves to fish,  I  found a few fun fishing fabrics and added to those.  Now to machine quilt it ...... maybe straight lines or maybe long wavy lines to look like a river or waves on a lake.  But, first I have to piece the back ;  there's a plain off white center panel that all of his friends and family signed at his graduation party .  It's not quite big enough for the backing, so I have to sew on some borders ......which I'm determined to squeeze into tonight's schedule since I'm trying to do Pat Sloan's  "Sew for 10 Minutes a Day Challenge" !!

  Ok .... I'm off to do some rearranging of "the schedule" so I can sew for 10 minutes :)a

 

Be back soon!

Toodles,

Mary Anne (aka Mare)

 

 

Sew for 10 Minutes a Day Challenge

Ok ...... so sometimes (even though it's something I love to do) I could use a good swift kick in the pants to actually SIT DOWN at my sewing machine and GET SOMETHING DONE !!!  You know how it is ..... you say to yourself   "tomorrow I am going to go for a walk for a half hour, then immediately work on a sewing project for a half hour BEFORE  sitting down at the computer and getting sucked into a marathon session on Pinterest, Facebook, Blogland etc etc etc;    and before tackling the never ending projects for work,  the laundry pile, the dirty dishes, blah blah blah blah blah !!!!"  Because, lets face it ...... those are all things that are never really done and stay done !!!    And then there's the procrastination factor of course !  So, anyway,  Pat Sloan   has just issued a challenge for slackers like me ..... the "Sew for 10 Minutes a Day Challenge"  for the rest of this month ..... so that's only about 2 weeks . 

...... so, I'm putting "sewing x 10 minutes/day"  on my schedule .......

......starting NOW !!!!  

 

How about you ???   (will let you know how this goes....)

 

Be back soon!

Toodles,

Mary Anne (aka Mare)