Up to Finish #12

I've been so crazy busy, I'm not actually sure whether or not I've shown the other nine finishes I've had this year, but I think so. I have three finishes to show today, four if you count a table runner, which I actually didn't count as a finish in my records. I'm not consistent in counting smaller projects.  

The first finish I'll show you was actually finished in October, but I needed to make a matching table runner, and I just finished that last week, plus I needed to mail it, but now that it's gifted, I can show all of it. 

I promised DD#1 a Thanksgiving/Christmas table runner. I make my table runners with a layer of Insulbrite plus a layer of cotton batting, so hot things can be placed directly on them. I've been in a bit of a time crunch, so I looked around the sewing room to see if I had any blocks lying around I could work into table runners. I found some autumn colored little blocks that would work for the Thanksgiving side of the table runner, but nothing already started that would work for Christmas. Around the same time I was evaluating that, it was National Sew a Jelly Roll day. I was busy, of course, on that day, but I decided I'd pick a jelly roll to work with and make a project the next week. I had one Christmas jelly roll, that wasn't overly Christmas-y. It had golds, reds and mostly greens, with metallic designs of holly and pinecones. A lot of the metallic designs were more just paisley type designs. Christmas colors, but more winter-ish in design. I knew DD#1 had just painted her living room green, and it would look great in there. 

I picked an easy pattern, and got the quilt top sewn up in just a couple days. It was finished in September. I've never made DD#1 a quilt with minky on the back, and I knew she'd like it, she's very tactile. She also likes fancier quilting, which minky shows off nicely. 

I freehanded a paisley feather design as an allover, and I really liked how the quilt came out. The method of piecing the quilt left me with bonus HST's, so I used those for the Christmas side of the table runner. I finished the quilting in late October. 

This is the Thanksgiving side. I needed a wider border on it, because I only had so many of the little blocks I had found. It's bigger than it looks in the photos, maybe 20x34 inches, I didn't measure. DD#1 is quite happy with her surprise Christmas quilt, and is thinking the table runner will work great for the holidays. Of course, now all the kids want throw quilts with minky backing, so I said that can be next year's Christmas presents. 

This is one of the giant quilts I basted in the last basting basting spree. It's about 104" square. I had enough blocks leftover from this, to make a throw quilt, for which I am piecing borders for today, and three extra blocks which will become a table runner. I used my Studio crazy quilt 10" block die to cut the blocks out. 

I spent most of the last week working on a baby quilt. The baby is due this month, it could already have arrived. I had the blocks I needed already cut out, because I had planned on making a larger quilt with those blocks. I only took the time to piece the 16 blocks I needed for the baby quilt, and I didn't count how many more blocks I have cut out. I'm already working on enough UFO's simultaneously, so until I get a few of those into quilt tops, I'm not going to add those to my workload right now. I also may need to cut more blocks to make the larger quilt I had planned, so it was really more than I wanted to tackle before Christmas. 

I finished the baby quilt yesterday, and I hope to mail it in the next few days. The baby is a boy with two older brothers. The oldest brother has a Star Wars quilt, the second brother has a Marvel quilt. Since I chose to use TV blocks, I could have put whatever I wanted on them. I did a couple Star Wars blocks, a couple Marvel blocks and the rest video games or cartoons. A nod to his brothers but still all his own. The Mod TV pattern is such a fun pattern, I could make a dozen different quilts from it and still have a blast choosing fabrics for the TV screens. If you are interested in improv quilting, but want some direction as well, this pattern would be a great intro to that. 

I started FMQ another of the giant quilts today. This one and one other I'd like to finish before Christmas. I'm sticking to my FMQ one hour per day, and it takes me anywhere from 1-3 weeks weeks to quilt a large quilt, depending on which design I'm quilting. On these I'm just doing easy stuff, so by Christmas is doable.  Other than that, it's all about Christmas projects and UFO's. 

UFO Hunting

Am I finished my Christmas sewing or deadline quilts? No, but I am making progress on them. I just finished quilting one of the basted deadline quilts this afternoon, and I've already trimmed it so it's ready for binding. I've got the baby quilt I need ready to sew, and the last of the fabric I needed for Christmas gifts just arrived. Most of the grandkids gifts are finished, on my end at least, DH is still working on his part. I've got stuff to make the adults, but I'm feeling pretty good about my timeline. 

If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you know I'm always working on several projects simultaneously. I do have a new project I'm cutting for, but overall, I'm UFO hunting.

UFO hunting? I have a closet full of quilt tops that need quilting, it's not like I need to look far to find UFO's. Those aren't the UFO's I'm hunting for. A lot of the UFO's I'm hunting are in plain sight, but I haven't been seeing them. How many times have I walked into the sewing or fabric rooms trying to ignore the numbers of UFO's hanging about? Too many to count. I ignored them so long I stopped seeing them. Piles of quilt blocks everywhere, that I never seemed to have time to work with because I always had another deadline quilt. 

I think everyone has common places to get stuck. For me, it's borders and sashing. If I decide a quilt needs borders or sashing, it often gets set aside, because I don't want/have time to cut those. Does it take a long time to cut those? Not usually. If you are using one of those border prints and you have to to fussy cut a long strip, ok, that takes a while. I know, I just did that! If you are just cutting regular fabrics, it really doesn't take that long, but somehow, I make it a big deal in my head and I get stuck. 

When I got home from this latest trip, I started realizing how many UFO's I actually have lying around. I started by thinking, for every deadline quilt I assemble, I'll assemble a UFO. Good thought but right now I have way more UFO's than deadline quilts. I don't enjoy assembling quilts in the summer, but the weather is finally cooling off, and I don't mind it now that I'm not sweating in the sewing room. I started assembling quilts that didn't need borders. 

I don't want a border on this one. It's made from one of my jelly rolls mixed with some strips I was given. This one is now assembled and in the quilt closet. 

This one is assembled too. I've debated a border for it, but it's big enough as is, so I think I'll forego one. 

I think I've assembled at least six quilt tops in ten days or so. I didn't take photos of all I've been doing. 

This one is currently on the design wall and will be the next one assembled. 

I'm working on the easiest to get to quilt tops first, but I'm also hunting down other ones, stuck in containers, totes, or project boxes. I have a few that are only a cut quilt, no sewing has been done at all. Those can get done as leaders/enders later. Right now I'm looking for the ones that need sashing and borders and making plans. I just cut a border for one quilt top that I just assembled, and I'm piecing a border for another one I just assembled. I'm trying to problem solve as I go. 

All the hangers in my quilt closet already have a quilt top on them, but since I've used up so many king sized battings, I have room on the shelves in the quilt closet and for now, I'm piling the quilt tops on the shelves. I've basted two more quilts this week, and with my FMQ every day, I'm constantly reclaiming pins so I can baste more. I'm piecing backings, assembling quilt tops, and problem solving every day. Sometimes I'm using my UFO as a leader/ender, sometimes I'm using a deadline project or Christmas gift as my leader/ender and the UFO is the main thing. What I'm really doing is making progress. I've made piles go down, even emptied some containers! It's going to take a long time to work my way through this mess, but I'm thinking this could be a really productive winter for me. 

I love Bonnie Hunter quilt mysteries, and I read the introductory post for this year's mystery. It looks like fun, I like the colors, but no, not this year. I keep getting emails on next year's murder mystery quilt. It's a Murder on the Orient Express! So fun! But no, not this year. I'm not doing them because I'm actually excited about tackling my UFO's, and I don't need the distraction. I'm sure there will be mystery quilts in my future, but not right now. 

I feel much better about having piles of quilt tops than having parts of quilt tops everywhere. I have plans for quite a bit of non quilt related sewing, so if I can keep a pile of basted quilts, and do my hour of FMQ every morning, I will start seeing those quilt tops get finished. 

Anyone else feeling the UFO pull? We could encourage each other on the journey. 

Basting Spree

DH will be home in about an hour, and boy, did I stay busy while he was gone! He helped me layout the first quilt after we set up the basting tables.

Quilt top #1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

All of these are now basted, and the first one is almost half quilted. I don't pin baste as closely as I used to now that I have a machine with a larger harp. Where I used to shoot for a pin every 3-4 inches, I now shoot for a pin every 6-8 inches. I do pin closely on the edge, but the middle I don't, especially when I'm using 100% cotton batting since the fabric clings to it so nicely. I actually still have some pins left. I have four jars of pins, and I emptied three of them and went into the fourth. With DH coming home, I took down the basting tables, and moved all the living room furniture back into place. I'll be basting a couple smaller quilts, but I can do that on my cutting table in the basement. 

When I started basting, quilt #2 wasn't assembled, and I hadn't pieced the backing for quilt #3. I did those things while I was taking breaks from basting. I could have finished a couple more big quilt tops and basted today, but honestly, I think basting some smaller quilts makes better sense. One of the big quilts I had planned to baste needs borders, two of those are already cut, and the pieced border is partially assembled. The thing is, I've misplaced the cut borders. I know I haven't used them for anything else. I know they are in my sewing room, not the fabric room, and my guess is they are at the bottom of a pile. Rather than tear my sewing room apart looking for them, I'm working my way through the piles instead. I've found piles of quilt blocks I had completely forgotten about. Cooler weather is absolutely my favorite time to assemble quilts, so as I find piles of blocks, I'm assembling them into quilt tops. I've got three quilts worth of rows slung across my ironing board right now! 

I was thinking about why I have so many stacks of quilt blocks, and I think I've figured it out. In 2022, we we gone from home for three months. Before we left, I stuck was I was working on aside, and worked on deadline stuff when I got back. In 2023 we were gone for four months. Before I left I stuck what I was working on aside, and when I got back worked on deadline stuff. Last year we were home all year, but my priority was quilting UFO's and I finished 40 quilts. This year has been non-stop, and in total we've been gone for four months over three different trips. 

I do still have deadline projects, three of which are now basted! I have to make a baby quilt for a November baby, but I'm thinking it might be Christmas before the baby gets it. I still have Christmas projects to make for my family. In the midst of those projects, I'm going to be tackling the stacks of blocks all over my sewing and fabric rooms. Some of them are neatly in project organizers, but my goal is to assemble as many quilts as I can while the weather is cooler. 

I want to keep basting quilts as I have pins available too. I pieced a backing for a smaller quilt today, and I cut the batting for it too. I need a year (or more) to play catch up. That said, piecing is my favorite thing to do! So how do I slow down the piecing and start getting caught up on projects? I'm planning on tackling that from a couple different directions. I have a few piecing heavy projects that I've been wanting to do. I have two sampler quilts on my list, and those always take longer because all the blocks are different. I think 2026 is a good time to start those.

Scrap quilts are always something I allow myself to start otherwise the scraps take over. I'm thinking string quilts and crumb quilts are going to slow me down as well. Those require a LOT of piecing, so I can get lots of piecing in, but not make the blocks for that many quilts. 

If I can keep a stack of quilts basted, and consistently FMQ an hour per day, I will make progress on the backlog. I'm not sure how much travelling 2026 will have. We have at least one big trip planned, but a couple other options are on the table as well. Our plan is to stay at home for the winter. I'm not sure how likely that is with both my parents having health issues, but for now, I'm going to plan like we are staying home for the winter. Working on the things I prefer to do in cooler weather is what's important right now, because cooler weather doesn't last long in southern Arizona. 

Rally Sewing

 DH will be heading up a scooter rally very soon. Sometimes his scooter rallies for his club require great efforts from our whole family, and other times he takes the rally on the road and I don't have to do anything, or at least not as much. This year the rally is going on the road, and originally, I didn't have to do anything for it. The funny thing is, that even with no real advertising or anything, the rally has become much larger than he was thinking it would be, and we have several verified riders from other states and even from across the country. With so many out-of-towners coming, he really wanted to do something more than what he had originally planned. With all of our travelling, we were under a time crunch, so we were a bit limited in what we could do. I normally make rally bags for the scooterists, and we get sponsors to donate things to put in them. DH knew we didn't have time to get sponsors and such, but he did ask if maybe I could make smaller than normal rally bags. 

I had a couple different license plate fabrics in stash, and cut those up for the cause. All of that single fold bias tape I had sewed up while making luggage tags earlier this year made great drawstrings! 

I am always keeping an eye out for fast and easy things to sew, to use for gifts or giveaways for DH's business. I found a tutorial for making lip balm holders, and I knew they'd be quick to sew up. I had purchased the clips before our last trip, and the lobster clips are the only thing I needed that I don't normally have in stash. If you are looking for stocking stuffers and have some extra jelly roll strips lying around, this might be something you want to try making. 

These were very quick to sew, and for the loop to attach the clip, I used the sewn up bias tape scraps again! I used scooter fabrics for the rally, but just an FYI, you end up folding the fabric, so not only do you need a small scale print, but you need to use caution if it's directional. We bought blank lip balms on Amazon, and he made labels with the graphic for the rally on it. It's the same graphic as the t-shirts. I had four different fabrics I used for the lip balm holders, so just like with the rally bags, not everyone will get the same thing. 

Now that the rally sewing is done, and I'm partially finished with the Christmas sewing, I'm taking a break from that and assembling some of the queen/king quilts. I baste the giant quilts on two eight foot long folding tables which completely takes over the living room. If I can do that while DH is out of town, then he isn't inconvenienced by the mess. He wouldn't complain if I did it while he was home, but to even put the tables up I have to move all the furniture, and you can't see the TV, and...it's just a lot. If I can do it when he's out of town, at least I'm only inconveniencing myself, but basting on the big tables is easier, so it's only sort of inconvenient for me. I have four queen/king quilt tops ready to baste now, but there's one more I'd really like to get basted and I haven't even started assembling it (blocks are done). I also have two more big ones that only need borders sewn on, and another that has blocks that need to be sewn together, but will get no borders. 

I just finished quilting a quilt this morning (it's a Christmas gift), so all of my basting pins are free. I don't know how many big quilts I can baste, but I know I've done three queen/kings at once before, and I'm sure I had some pins left. My goal is to baste until I'm out of pins. I've got a whole closet full of quilt tops, so when I know I don't have enough pins to baste another big one I'll switch to something smaller. Three of the big quilts are my top priority, two others I'd like to get done soon-ish. The other big quilts can wait, and none of what's hanging in the closet is a priority. Actually, my next deadline quilt is a baby quilt that I've barely started. As soon as I've got these big quilts assembled, that baby quilt will be my sewing priority, maybe mixed in with some Christmas projects. By the time I get the baby quilt top done, I should have reclaimed enough basting pins to baste it! FMQ one hour per day may not seem like much, but it does keep things moving along. 

Finish #8 Simple Yet Striking

 Not all quilts need to be complicated. Sometimes it's the simplest of quilts that catch my eye. My latest finish was a quilt top I sewed in a hotel...in 2023. I sewed so many quilt tops in the three months of living in that hotel, I'm not even sure I've quilted half of them yet. I'll take any finish as a win these days, and I really like this quilt.

The red squares and the whites with black designs are all scrappy. The black squares were leftover backing fabric, and the amount I had of that determined the size of the quilt. I know it's just four patches alternating with squares, but I think the quilt is quite fun.  I used a black and white striped binding. I was going to use red, since the backing is red fleece, but when I auditioned the red, I decided I liked the stripe better. Who doesn't love a striped binding? 

I made other quilts with this same pattern at that hotel. That trip was all about using up my 2" cut squares. After quilting that denim quilt, my arm needed a break, so for this quilt I put the walking foot on the Janome, and just did a crosshatch design by quilting diagonally through the squares. It was easy on my arm, and crosshatching just looks good on anything. I'm sure the color choice makes this quilt more striking, but even in the other colorways I did, it was still a fun, simple design. 

I really need to do a basting spree and get a pile of quilts basted and ready to quilt. I had hoped to baste a bunch of king sized quilts while DH is gone later this month, but I only have one of those quilt tops done. I've been working on some projects for DH, as well as Christmas stuff, so assembling quilts hasn't been on my to do list. A basting spree while DH is gone is still a good idea though. Instead of basting the big quilts, I'm thinking of digging out the scrap batting, making Frankenbatts and basting whatever I've got that fits the Frankebatts. I've got a closet full of quilt tops, and too much scrap batting, so doing a basting spree that deals with some of that is almost as helpful as basting the big quilts. If I still set up the basting tables in the living room, it will leave my cutting table clear for trimming up batting scraps so I can piece them together, and allow me to figure out some pieced backings too. 

With my new plan in mind, my current goal is to get as much of the Christmas stuff made as I can before DH leaves, then make a huge mess with batting scraps, pieced backings and basting while he's gone. Piecing batting together is always a messy chore for me. I tend to wait too long in between times where I piece batting, so then when I do, I'm sorting it into similar sized pieces, trimming straight edges so I can sew them together. Times like that I wish we had a full basement instead of a half basement, because I end up with piles everywhere! It's definitely a matter of making a bigger mess to clean things up, because once I finish, I've got empty or near empty bins for scrap batting, I've used up orphan blocks and misc. fabrics by piecing backings, and I've managed to get piles of fabric put away now that I have more room on the fabric shelves. Nothing busts fabric better than backings! We'll have to see how far I get!

UFO or New Start or It's Own Category?

 In my quilting log, I keep records of my finishes, and I like to note whether a finish was a UFO (for my purposes a UFO was started in the prior year or earlier) or a new start. If I am working start to finish on a quilt over January 1st, I tend to annotate it as a WIP, so I know it may have been started the previous year, but never languished waiting for attention. 

When I got back from the last trip, I had a few basted quilts waiting for me. One of those was a denim quilt I wanted to finish for DD#2's birthday. DD#2 started asking me for a new denim quilt a couple years ago. Her old denim quilt was one of my first bed-sized quilts, and she was just a young girl when I made it. I used a juvenile sheet set to back both it and it's twin, and I added all kinds of fun girly patches on the front. DD#2 still loves that quilt, it's a good childhood memory for her. Her husband is not a fan of it, however. He thinks it looks like a little girls quilt, which of course, it is. Since they don't have any girls, he's never been immersed in girl stuff, so he doesn't get it. DD#2 loves the weight of a denim quilt (I made her a weighted blanket but she doesn't like it as much) but she wanted to know if I could make her a new denim quilt. I have plenty of denim, I could likely make six denim quilts, but what I don't have a lot of is time to make said quilts. 

My sister and I were trolling thrift stores looking for craft supplies a few months ago, and I came across a denim quilt top that was finished. It was unremarkable in pattern, but was well sewn. I knew DD#2 would get a denim quilt a lot faster if I just bought that quilt top. Since piecing and quilting are two totally different lists in my life, a finished quilt top could jump the line. 

I basted the quilt before I left on the last trip, knowing that I would only have two weeks or less to get it quilted when I got back if I wanted it done for her birthday. Since I didn't piece the top myself, and DD#2 is all about the actual quilting, I decided to quilt something different in every area.

I ended up with some bunching in the sashing strips between rows. Funnily enough the border is OK, so maybe the borders were a little short. I used every shade of purple thread I had, including every variegated thread that included purple. There are about 100 different quilting designs on this quilt, all done freehand. 

As usual, the quilting show up better on the back. There is no bunching on the back, so maybe the front is just a matter of denim not being amenable to "quilting it out" as far as imperfections go. 

No matter how much I played with the color in editing mode, I couldn't get the close ups right. The purple in the photo where you can see the whole back is closest to the correct color of the minky backing. It's a blue-purple, not a red-purple.

I quilted many long hours, much to the chagrin of my RSI, to get this done in time. I did, however, get to give it to her on her birthday! It was someone's UFO, but not mine. It was my finish #7 for 2025!

Hotel Sewing- Tips and Tricks

DH and I started doing sewing/scooting vacations when we still had a houseful. Those were often just a 3 or 4 days away. I could sew uninterrupted, and he could ride someplace different. Those weekend getaways got me ready for the times he had to travel for work, and we would be in hotels for months at a time. 

This year we've taken three big trips. Two of those times I brought a sewing machine, one I did not. At this point I've sewn in dozens of hotels, and I learned a thing or two about packing for these types of trips. 

If you have a choice of hotels, old hotels are often NOT a good choice to sew in. DH loves kitchy Route 66 type hotels, and though they can be fun to stay in, they are NOT fun to sew in. Old hotels usually have much smaller rooms than modern hotels. They also tend to not have enough electric sockets. Sometimes even charging a phone becomes an issue when there are multiple phones and devices to charge. 

No hotel I've ever stayed in had adequate lighting for sewing. There are ways around that, which I'll get to. 

Most hotel rooms in the USA have an iron and ironing board. Even in hotels where there isn't one in the room already, a quick check with the front desk usually gets you use of both. How good said iron and ironing board are vary from hotel to hotel, but at least it will be something.

My first sewing machine trolley was from a big box store, and although it was inexpensive, it still wasn't worth it. I only used that for one trip, and after two broken zippers on that one trip, I learned why sewists who travel invest in a Tutto. I'm sure there are other good brands of sewing trolleys, but Tutto is what I am familiar with, and they get rave reviews from quilters. I bought my first Tutto on a Black Friday sale, and I bought a medium sized case. At the time I was traveling with a cheaper Brother machine, and it worked ok with that. When I started bringing my Bernina on longer trips, my 440 barely fit in it, so I had very little extra space in it. This year I snagged an XL Tutto on clearance, and I'm so glad I did!

You might think I loaded my machine first, but I didn't. First thing in were my rulers, which I placed under the false bottom.

 Two of my travel rulers are Fiskars folding rulers. The orange one can be used to cut triangles or squares. It's 8x8"

The other is 6x24". The "hinge" is some really heavy duty adhesive plastic. It's thicker than tape. 

I also put in a couple other rulers I use the most, but by putting them under the false bottom they lay flat without much weight on them. 

In the medium sized Tutto this machine barely fit, but in the XL, I've got lots of space to add projects and accessories.

Foot pedal and power cord, don't forget those! I also have a travel iron which I prefer when pressing units over a full sized iron. Under the iron is a power strip. I always travel with a power strip so I can plug in all the things I need. All the remaining space in this section went to packing projects, plus my ikea lamp.

I have a June Tailor Press and Cut in here, but I also travel with a folding cutting mat. 

An 18x24" mat will be large enough to cut anything I'm doing in a hotel. 

The front pocket holds my extension table for my Bernina and a thread cone stand. I have a plastic container that holds my threads and extra needles, plus I've got all the regular sewing notions in here somewhere. 

I have travelled without a sewing table before, but if at all possible, I bring my folding sewing table. Putting a sewing machine on a hotel desk is a disaster ergonomically, and although I can do it for short periods of time, I prefer to bring a sewing table and a folding chair from home whenever I can.

In Arkansas, this was my sewing setup. The hotel chair was decent so I didn't bring in the folding chair, but we had to bring folding chairs for other parts of the trip anyway so it wasn't a big deal. This hotel room had no desk, so if I hadn't brought my sewing table, I wouldn't have been able to sew at all. You can see my white ikea lamp on top of my press and cut. I know a lot of women travel with clip-on lamps, but I don't, because I have learned that there isn't always a good place to clip it on! I couldn't have had my Press and Cut on the edge of the table if my lamp was a clip-on. The only plug open in this older hotel was right next to the door to the outside. If I hadn't brought a power strip,  I would have had to put the sewing table directly in front of the exterior door. Even with the power strip, I had to have DH knock so I could unplug the power strip every time he got back, but at least I didn't have to move the sewing table! 

I brought five projects with me, and they all fit inside the Tutto. I only ended up working on a couple. 

I had pre-cut this Spring Twist quilt from Sharon's scraps, but the green was mine, leftover from a backing. I really wanted another border on it, but this was as far as I got at the hotel.

Now that I'm home, the top is finished, and I had the perfect border fabric in my stash, but it was originally in my mom's stash! I liked this quilt so much, I've already cut another one in a different colorway, again from Sharon's scraps. 

I also played around with my Burst template. I only got a couple of these blocks done, but at least I know how to use the template now! The hotel room ironing board was adequate, I lucked out that it was height adjustable, not all hotel ironing boards are. 

The iron was a bit of an adventure I have no idea what setting the iron was on, so I only used it when pressing the quilt top, other than that I used my travel iron. I'm sure if I had asked I could have gotten a different iron, but I just made do with what I had. 

Why didn't I work on the other projects? I really needed a desk to work on the other projects. They were not quilting projects, and I needed space to mark and pin on a hard surface. This hotel did not work out for that. I tried pinning on the bed, but that did not work well at all. It was a really long seam, and I needed a flat hard surface to keep everything lined up. The carpeting was filthy, so no way was I going to put anything on the floor. This was an old hotel, but we didn't choose the hotel, it was the scooter rally hotel. At least it had larger rooms than a lot of old hotels, so it could have been worse. 

If you are going to be sewing at a hotel, my best tips are these-

*Bring extra lighting and a power strip with a long cord. In my mind, these are non-negotiable. 

*get a good sewing trolley, it makes a world of difference.

*if you can, bring a portable sewing table and a chair, if you end up sewing on a desk, get and and stretch frequently. 

*bring more than one project. Sometimes your set-up won't make working on certain projects easy. I try to bring at least one easy project, something I've already cut out, or strings or crumbs, that don't have to be super accurate. 

I've had to sew on desks, I've forgotten a power cord, I've had to have my sewing table in the center of a very small room, because it was the only space available. I've cut out entire quilts, sewn dozens of quilt tops in hotel rooms, and even done some FMQ in a pinch. Not everyone has the need or desire to sew in a hotel room, but it can be done, and it can be a lot of fun. If bringing a machine with you seems daunting, try bringing handwork, or a box of squares that need lines drawn on them. I've even brought quilt kits and cut them out at a hotel, but didn't bring a machine. Getting all the prep work done for a project and getting right to sewing when you get home is huge win! 

In case you wondered, I only sewed in Arkansas while DH was riding in a scooter rally. The rest of the trip we were doing things together. I would not bring a machine for a road trip where we are in a different hotel every night, but when we are one hotel for several days, sure! BTW, I can draw lines on squares in the car too! Just bring a clipboard! 

I hope this helps someone! Surely I'm not the only quilter on the move without an RV.

On the Road Again...But I'm Back

 This has been a year of travel for sure! We were just gone again, for over three weeks. I did manage to get some posts ready before left, so you shouldn't have noticed a gap this time! 

So where were we off to this time? Well, it was a series of places, and our first stop was Kansas City. We were towing one of DH's scooters, and we were headed to Chicago. We've been to Chicago before, and knew better than driving through Chicago with a trailer if we didn't have to, so we dropped the scooter off at a nephew's house in the Kansas City area. It was a lightning fast drop-off, because we knew we'd be back in just a few days. 

From Kansas City to Chicago it was made a bit more interesting for me, because we stopped at a quilting Hot Spot!

This was my first time to Missouri Star Quilt Company. We used to live in Missouri, but it was before the Doans moved there. That's OK, because I didn't have much time to quilt in Missouri, I was homeschooling full time and doing a lot of work at our local church. We also didn't have much money in those days, so even if it had been a thing back then, I likely wouldn't have gone.

Life is much different now, and it was a great time to go! We knew we'd be going there before my birthday, so DD#2 had given me a gift card to Missouri Star, and my MIL gave me birthday money to spend there. I didn't want to go crazy, because goodness knows I have a LOT of fabric already, so I went with a list. 

My list was as follows-

White fabrics with gray designs

Greens or blues with gold metallics for a quilt for DD#2

Something I could use as an ornament for the Christmas tree. 

How well did I stick to my list? You be the judge.

Starting at the top row, I bought the new Fabric Cafe book that I mentioned in my last post. I didn't know Missouri Star would have it, but I planned on buying it when I got back home. When I saw it, I decided to just buy it there. The purple and orange fat quarters were for my stash, I am always running out of purple, orange and yellow, so if I see those on sale, I snag some. Second row- the whites with gray designs per my list, a keychain that says Life is Sew Good with the MSQC logo for the Christmas tree, also per my list. The mug DH insisted on me buying. It's a teal color, and says Love in Every Stitch, with a quilt block on the backside. The bottom row is all fat quarter possibilities for DD#2 next quilt, with the gold metallics she wants, also per my list. I also bought two things for Christmas gifts that I can't show now. I went over my birthday money by $40, but the Christmas gifts were over $40, so I think I did pretty well. 

Here is a quick photo dump if you've never gone to Missouri Star. There are several different shops to go into, all with a theme so it's easier to find what you are looking for. All of the shop workers were very nice and helpful. They were spot on when they suggested Penney's Shop for the white with gray designs, and when I said I was looking for individual fat quarters and NOT bundles, they told me that only the wideback shop sells individual fat quarters. I don't know if that's always the case, but it was the day I was there. 

From Hamilton, MO it was almost straight to Chicago. I say almost, because we made a sidetrip to Riverside, Iowa. If you are a Star Trek fan like we are, you may know why.

In Chicago it was all about being a vendor at the Slaughterhouse Scooter Rally. We didn't get in any sight seeing, but I finally did score some Deep Dish Chicago pizza! Every other time we've been to Chicago we opted for something else, but now I can finally say I've had it.

After the rally it was back to Kansas City to pick up the scooter. We only stayed for a couple days, so we couldn't see everyone we would have liked to, but since we were early to have dinner with my niece one day, we made another quilty stop!

We went to Quilting is my Therapy shop in Liberty, MO. It's Angela Walters shop, and I rightly assumed she would not be there. That's ok, because my intention was not to fangirl, but to be able to try on the quilting gloves she uses. Some quilting gloves I wear a medium, and others a large. I've been wanting to buy a pair of the gloves she uses, figuring they would be cooler to wear in the summer, and the woman manning the shop was very nice and let me try on the gloves. Just an FYI, if you are in between sizes on gloves, I ended up getting the large in these. So what else did I get?

I bought the quilting gloves, and four fat quarters. three more gray on white designs, and one yellow FQ for stash. They didn't have a lot of individual fat quarters already cut, but they were willing to cut any fabric I wanted into fat quarters so that is good info to have. We were in a hurry, so I passed on that, but it was a fun quilt shop. 

We spent just a couple days in KC seeing family, then we went to southeastern MO to spend a few days with DD#1 and family. I spent a lot of time with them, but DH was busy getting new tires on his scooter and getting some riding in. We went to a local production of Annie at the community college, and I really loved watching the grandkids watch the show. I think two of the four would love to be involved in local theater. 

After a few days with DD#1's family, and getting as many hugs as I could from the grands, it was on to Arkansas. DH's goal was the Scooting the Ozarks scooter rally, but I had another side trip in mind. If I'm in Arkansas, or even near Arkansas, DH knows I'm going to want to go to Marshall Dry Goods in Batesville. 

I wanted a bolt of one specific fabric, which I bought wholesale. Aside from that, I made myself stick with the flatfolds. I didn't want to add a ridiculous amount to stash, but I did have a couple specific projects in mind. 

The bolt I purchased is top right. It has a woven look and the colors match so many projects I have in progress. I had a six yard piece of that fabric, and went through it quickly, and wished I had more of it. I got a 15 yard bolt for $47. As far as the fabrics go, the upper left is wideback remnants. The navy blue I needed for a project already started, I ran out of the blue which I was using as a background. The lower left is digital prints. I've heard various things about using digital fabrics, some people like them, some don't, and I knew trying some remnants of them was a good way to test them without dropping a bunch of money on them. The center column is mostly brights to go with a black/white bright project I want to start. There's also one more gray on white remnant. The far right is more green with gold metallic for DD#2 new quilt. 

The flat fold section at Marshall Dry Goods is a great place to find some deals.

Marshall Dry Goods was the last quilt related stop on our trip, but it wasn't the end of the trip. We were then on our way to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, for the Scooting the Ozarks Rally. For DH, it was finally a chance to be a rider at a rally, instead of a vendor, and for me, it was sewing time in a hotel room. I think I'll save that for my next post!