To top off all of that, even during the week while the grandtwins were in school, I caught a nasty virus and was pretty much just sleeping or resting. I'm still not 100%, but much better than a couple days ago, so I think I can handle the craziness of this coming weekend, but I'll likely need a couple days next week to recover. I'm not used to getting up with a baby anymore, so this weekend should be an adventure.
I did get three hours or so total in the quilting studio this week.
I got a quilt laid out on the design wall. I've found that's a good way to make me feel like I got something done when I don't have much time. The blocks were finished quite a while ago, but just putting them on the design wall makes it feel like I got something productive done.
Since I had so little time in the quilting studio, I decided to just sew up some things already cut and waiting to assemble. Nine blocks are not much, but it's nine more than were finished last week.
I didn't take the time to cut out anything, which I REALLY need to do. I need to make three baby girl quilts, none of which are cut out. I need to work on the wedding quilt, which isn't cut out. I need to make three more weighted blanket tops which aren't cut out, and I have two quilt kits I want cut and moved into the queue. Add to that I have several quilts that need sashing cut before I can assemble them, and yeah, I could spend two or three weeks just cutting right now. Oh, burp rags, bowl cozies, scrub tops and pajama pants all need to be cut out as well! Once all of those things are cut out, and I get a couple deadline quilts finished, I'll be onto cutting up my sister's clothes for memory quilts, so cutting is actually my biggest obstacle right now.
I don't know about you, but I normally iron and starch all my fabrics before cutting, I find starch makes my cuts more accurate, whether I'm using a rotary cutter or my Accuquilt Studio. It makes cutting take longer, because I have to have the time to press and cut. It makes my results so much better, that it's worth the extra time, I just haven't had a lot of available time lately.
I've been making strips of seven 2x3.5" pieces as my main leader/ender project for a while now. I'm just starting on the yellow and oranges now, since I just recently finished cutting those colors. I've already got 170 strip sets done, and it takes two of these to make a block. I need to cut three strips of background for each block as well, again with needing something cut! I had no idea how many strips I was going to end up with, and I still haven't counted how many yellow and orange stripsets I'll have. I could add in browns and blacks too, since I am using white as the background color, but I haven't decided. I suppose it depends on if I decide to make one queen sized quilt, or two twins. This one doesn't have a destination yet, so I am undecided. I would like to at least get it to block stage before I set it aside though.
Since I haven't had a lot of time sewing, I have been doing a lot of thinking about what kind of quilts I want to make. I always have a lot of deadline quilts, that's what happens when you have a very large family and everyone expects a quilt for big occasions. I haven't done much donating of quilts in the last couple of years, and I'd like to get back to that. Kids quilts are easy and fun, and goodness knows I have plenty of kids fabrics in stash. I've donated several quilts to Project Linus over the years. I've also donated to the Veteran's hospital DH works at.
The thing is, I've really had another place on my mind lately, and I need to contact them, which I haven't done. I've really been thinking about kids who age out of foster care, and how they are pretty much stuck with few options and not a lot of help. As my kids moved out I gave them extra kitchen stuff, extra towels, let them take all their bedroom furniture, stuff like that. I even went through my pantry and got them a start on building up basic foodstuffs. I can't even imagine how difficult it must be to be just 18, with no support system, and nothing to start with. I've heard of a couple organizations that accept used household goods to help those kids, but I think I'd really like to donate new quilts to an organization like that. I don't mind making larger quilts, so if full or queen sized quilts are most helpful I'm ok with that. Does anyone have any experience working with one of these type of charities? If so, I'd love to hear from you!
No comments:
Post a Comment