Glad I went to bed the other night and didn’t try to finish this when I was tired.
21¾" x 33"
Coming to it fresh today, it still took over 2 hours to get the 6 big sections stitched together into the final bird.
But it’s done! So happy with the fish and that my seams all seam (ha!) to match up correctly.
Things I learned while sewing after midnight -
Do not leave the big pattern pieces for last, thinking they will be easier than the small, fiddly ones. They. Are. Not.
Color coding works!Washy tape works as well as Scotch tape for holding pattern pieces together. And will not melt all over your iron. Again.
My favorite detailAfter the third big mistake, it’s time to go to bed, no matter how close you are to being done.
Done except for sewing everything together.
Soooooooo close.
The kingfisher is done - it took longer to rip out yesterday’s upside down piece than it did to resew that and finish the block. I only made one color mistake this month - the shrimp had 3 tails rather than 2 - so I’m getting better at that (or I just got lucky on this one… 😅)
The leg still looks wonky to me but it’s exactly like the design photo 🤷🏼♀️
Also finished three more fall palms, my monthly FPP project, for a total of 15 blocks. Which means I’m only one month behind on both Birdwatcher Project and palms! I thought the new bird pattern came out tomorrow but it happens on the second Thursday, so I have a whole week to do the giant heron from last month. I may get caught up after all!
Tomorrow is also pickup day for all the stuff we’ve cleaned out of upstairs and our closets.
I’m sad to see Jac’s makeup table go. She loved playing with it but decided she didn’t want to take it to Idaho. Hope it finds its way to another little girl who will love it.
So nice to have all this gone. Now back to sewing.
I was trying to finish this guy tonight so that when the next pattern in the series comes out Thursday, I’ll only be one month behind rather than the two months I am now.
Couldn’t figure out why the bottom piece looked wonky… it took me waaaaaay longer than it should have to figure out I sewed it on upside down. 🙃
Giving up and going to bed. My date with the seam ripper can wait til tomorrow.
Hubby: “Weren’t you working on a bird quilt…”
Kingfisher in-progress.
Why yes, I was, but it got pushed aside by Halloween must-makes (still using - and loving - my Ghost Party quilt, even if Halloween is over) and the remodel/rebuild/remove-more-stuff project.
Hubby finished clearing out the second bedroom/storage room,
and I have an entire closet to hang quilts and wallhangings, with a shelf for photo albums and scrapbooking supplies. (Poor Gary. This closet was filled with his stuff - and it’s now taking up space in his garage. 😂)
Foosball table is in front of this wall.
Last week I spent two full days cooking and baking so I could sew this entire weekend guilt free.
It worked!
Tula Pink!
Finishing always takes longer than I expect but once I figured out a quilting plan -
and found the new episodes of The Great British Baking Show -
it went faster.
Three placemats have pretty pastel butterfly backing
Or I maybe because I was entertained distracted I didn’t care how long it took?
Sunflower backing is odd-man-out but I like the fabrics together.
The last four placemats are done and ready to go to guild on the 13th.
And Jennifer’s table runner is ready to go in the mail tomorrow*.
Now I just need to bind the two Tangled quilts so they can go out the door toooooooo. Love the flower quilting!
* I *hated* the batting I picked for Jen’s table runner - too fluffy and difficult to quilt. So I ripped out the (almost finished 🤬) stitching, carefully pulled the spray-basted layers apart and redid it with thinner batting. So much nicer, but… the top got pulled out of shape during all that and I didn’t realize it until I was taking photos. Think I’ll call it the ‘leaning tower runner’ and hope she likes it anyway…
I love Halloween, second only to Christmas as a favorite holiday. It’s not as much fun without the littles to go trick or treating with, but I still have costume pics!
Leia was Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony.
Inspiration photoMary made the entire costume from thrift store finds, including spray painting the boots. So cool!
Donovan and his mom had a Star Wars theme going. (See top right photo below.) I asked Leia what her dad dressed up as… “just grumpy old dad.” 😂
Leo was Ruby Gloom, from an animated TV series,
complete with Iddy the cat dressed up as her companion.
Leo and Iddy
Leo even got a bubble backpack so Iddy could go trick or treating with them. Iddy is one patient kitty - she liked the bubble and will willingly get in her carrier so she can go in the car with Leo.
Jaclyn was a werewolf princess, practicing her howling ⬆️
Indoor trick or treating. Leo won a prize - $20 gift card - for her costume. Whoooo!
Gary, Cheyenne and Gary’s high school buddy, Rob, came by to show off their costumes (actually they came to raid our trick or treating candy. Surprise! We didn’t get any this year, for about the first time ever.)
Gary said they are going to a costume party tomorrow night but dressed up tonight to give out candy (16 bags!!) at their new house. Happy Spooky Day, y’all! 🎃🎃
Three placemats are finished with four more at the half way mark.
Size: 13.25 x 16.75”
I’d planned to do a sewn-on binding, like a quilt, but in researching it looks like most people do the simpler closure (leave an opening to turn it right side out, then topstitch around to close it up) so I went with that. Cuts the time to make these waaaaay down.
Left over blocks from a finished quilt.
It also looks like most donated placemats are done the self-binding/no batting method. This is my first time making these, so it’ll be interesting to see how other guild members are doing theirs.
Note: use 45° marks on 5” square ruler to trim corners. Size: 13.25 x 18”
Hoping to finish up the last four tomorrow, but my sewing machine is acting up - 3 broken needles and multiple thread jams in just 2 days. I’m wondering if Koko needs a break or if we’ll be taking another trip to the repair spa soon.
These 3 all have the same backingNote: layer 1) oversized batting, 2) oversized backing face up, 3) top face down. Trim to size after stitching 1/4” around - leaving an opening to turn it. (I forgot that 2 out of 3 times tonight. 🙄)
Note: used this on flying geese mat, worked well.
Pop got the new fooseball table put together in time to surprise Donovan today.
It took D a few minutes to figure out how the sticks worked… and then he whooped Pop’s b*tt (repeatedly!) Looks like this is going to be a big hit.
3 and 4 yard pieces for backings
I love fabric that’s on sale, it’s always the first thing I look for in a store or online shop. But sale fabric at Roxanne’s in Carpinteria is my kryptonite. There’s no point in even trying to resist.
Already cut into 3 of these tonight
All I needed was a fat quarter of something deep violet… In my defense, the two daisy fabrics, along with the pale green and the lavender, were 50% off - which means I have at least 2 quilt backs for $7/yard. When you need 3 or 4 yards (or more!) per quilt, it really adds up!
Decided to try my hand at quilted placemats, based on this photo…
Pulled a bunch of orange fabric (and added more half way through)
to make the FPP flying geese,
then based the size/dimensions of the mats off that.
They look nothing like the inspiration but I’m pleased with them.
This one’s my fav
I also found some half-finished/leftover bits from past projects and they’re becoming placemats too.
Going to see how many I can make in the next couple of days, then spray baste and start quilting them on Sunday. All will go to the quilting guild for donation to Meals on Wheels and other groups.
Also, Tangled 1 and 2 are enjoying their visit to the quilting spa. Hope to have them back late next week.
