Another Wedding Quilt Finished!

My plan of FMQ one hour a day is working far better than I expected. In fact, I just hit the halfway point on the last quilt I have ready to quilt.

Here is my third finish of the five overdue wedding quilts.

The quilt pattern is called Going Up and is free on Craftsy. It is 72x84, which is far smaller than most of my wedding quilts, but this niece didn't want a bed quilt, just a quilt to use on the couch. Since she wanted it for the couch, I backed it with minky, which should make it fun to snuggle. She asked for a modern quilt in neutrals, and I mostly stuck with that. The background is a tan, and most of the fabrics are browns or grays. Her wedding photo shoot was very urban, very creative and inspiring to me. The fabric line I chose to showcase is vintage style urban prints, signs, clocks, maps and such. I'm hoping she likes it.

I've started working on her sister's wedding quilt in earnest now. It's my first bargello. I waited to work on this wedding quilt until I had my design wall done, and I'm so glad I did! I would hate to have to keep all these strips straight without a design wall!

These aren't all the strips, I have some by my sewing machine. Since it is my first bargello, I opted for an easy pattern, no going up and down, just up. When she asked for a quilt in red and green I knew it was going to be hard to not have it look Christmas-y, so I tried to avoid the normal shades of red and green used in Christmas decorations. I also added brown, and I found a gorgeous fabric with a brown background for borders. I won't know until it's done if I succeeded, but I'm liking it so far. 

I'm using one of my grandson's quilts as leaders/enders while I sew those bargello strips. I should get the first half of his blocks done today. The plan is to have his quilt top finished at the same time this bargello quilt top is finished. If I can manage that, I'll have the last two of the overdue wedding quilts and two quilts for grandsons ready for the next basting spree. 

I haven't started cutting out any of the next batch of quilts. I knew all the long cuts for the bargello quilt was going to bother my arm, and it did. I want to get the two quilt tops I'm currently working on finished more than I want to cut out new quilts, so cutting isn't a priority right now. I do have some scraps from the last couple finishes that need to be dealt with, so I may get those cut for my scrap user system a little along, before I start cutting all the new quilts. 

My strip drawers are overflowing right now, which is sad because usually I am so good about using them. I've found that I'm not using any of my scraps these days, because I'm concentrating so hard on UFO's. My UFO's are already all cut out, so the only stash I'm using on finishing them is for backings. It's like I can use scraps, or finish UFO's, but not both. Finishing the UFO's is also creating scraps, cutoffs from backings, leftovers from borders, misc. fabrics I kept with the UFO to use just in case I had miscalculated. If those fabrics aren't at least 12" WOF or a fat quarter if half WOF, I strip it for the scrap user system. It's a little hard to see my strip drawers so full, but I know there will come a day when I'm caught up on the deadline quilts, and can just play with my scraps. 

The blue and white wedding quilt I finished in my last post, was a great example of me using my scrap strips. Every single blue strip in that quilt came right out of my scrap user system. Only the white accent fabric was yardage. That was a really easy pattern, and uses a ton of scraps, so I think I'm going to make some of those twin sized, in whichever colors I'm drowning in. I really liked the fact that the pattern uses so little of the accent fabric. A lot of scrap patterns I see use more background fabric than scraps, and that doesn't really help you tame the scraps. Any time I find a pattern that uses more scraps than background, it's a keeper, and I know I'll use it multiple times, even resizing blocks or changing layouts for different sized quilts. 

Cleaning Up the Hard Way

I'm still working on cleaning up my sewing space. When there are too many projects out, they need to be moved along. Quilt tops hanging in the closet don't stress me out, blocks all over my sewing studio from multiple projects, that can stress me out. 

I finally sewed borders on DD#3's wedding quilt! Now this will be basted next basting spree. 

I also finished this quilt top that was made from leftovers from DD#3's wedding quilt. No hurry on getting this quilted. It's hanging in the closet now like a nice UFO.

I finished another wedding quilt that was two years late. The couple asked for a blue and white quilt, and I gave it to them, as long as you use a loose definition of blue! I'm hoping to get this in the mail on Friday. 

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my Tin Lizzie? I don't normally quilt with this much of the quilt under the harp, but I wanted to see if I could do it. That is 108" of quilt under the harp of that machine with room to still maneuver. Yup, love that sit down longarm!!!

I'm quilting yet another past due wedding quilt, this one has a minky backing. I've quilted minky backings before, but never one with this long of pile. It is creating major drag, which is a drag on my arm. I really should try some polish on the bed of my machine and see if it helps. This quilt isn't that large, they just wanted something for the couch, and I should be able to finish it in three more one hour sessions. 

My timed one hour quilting sessions are on the minky backed quilt. My main sewing project is a bargello wedding quilt, and for leaders/enders I can either make more split nine patch blocks that I've been making, or I can switch it to my grandson, Mr. LJ's big boy bed quilt. I just finished cutting that out a couple days ago.

Cutting is a big deal for my arm, and I just ordered two strip dies for my GO! cutter to help me out. I still have lots to cut by hand. My sewing room is cleaned up substantially after assembling all those quilt tops the past couple weeks, but my cutting room has piles everywhere. 

On my cutting to do list
1) wedding quilt for a nephew
2) wedding quilt for another niece
3) quilt for our bed
4) baby quilt for a grandson due in January
5) replacement Army quilt for DS the Younger whose previous Army quilt was lost while deployed. 
6) non quilt baby items for that new grandson on the way.

The strips dies I ordered will only work for two of those quilts, but it will help a ton on those. I can only cut short sessions at a time, and for now, my cutting is reserved for the bargello quilt that is my main sewing project. After I get that top together, then I'll start cutting the rest, a little at a time. 

If life weren't swamped enough, I came down with shingles. I don't feel that bad, but the nerve pain in my leg is...bothersome to say the least. Sleeping is incredibly difficult when the sheets feel like they are burning my leg, but I get cold without any covers. This too shall pass.

DH and I went for a drive to unwind the other day, so I'll leave you with some photos near AZ wine country. (Yes, there are wineries in AZ)

Are You Organized?

It's confession time. I am a lousy housekeeper. I'm not naturally neat, nor do I love to clean. That being said, my house is not a disaster either. I've been married over 30 years, and over time, I have learned quite a bit about myself. I've also learned how to "trick myself" into doing stuff.

My MIL told me for years that if I just made my bed every day, my bedroom would look better. She was right, but it wasn't until I wouldn't let myself get dressed for the day until my bed was made that it became a habit. I'm not one to stay in pajamas all day, so that worked for me. 

Overrun with dirty dishes? Don't let yourself go to bed until they are dealt with. Nothing like losing sleep to encourage you to take care of that earlier. I actually enjoy doing laundry, so that one was never a big deal for me. 

After a while, my house looked pretty decent, at least in all the places you could see. Closets and drawers? Those were another story altogether. I've even learned how to deal with those now, and overall, my house is pretty neat, but it took me years to figure out what worked for me. 

Last week, I stumbled onto a resource I wish had been available 30 years ago. Clutterbug has a bunch of YouTube videos, and there is a lot on her website.  I have read dozens of decluttering books, and nothing hit me the way this woman's advice did. Instead of a one size fits all type approach to organizing, she has you identify your natural inclination first. If you struggle with organizing, try taking her quiz. It's free, and you don't need to give her any information.

The quiz is here.

The first time I took the quiz, I really debated over several answers. The quiz said I was a Cricket, but when I read the description, it didn't quite fit. I changed a couple answers I had debated on, and then it said I was a Ladybug. Aha! That one sounded right to me. After reading a lot more of her stuff, I realize there are things I do like three of her "clutterbugs", but I am most like a ladybug. 

She does an excellent job of describing everything to you, and gives great pointers for what will work for each organizing type. Like I said, I wished I had access to this information years ago, because most of what she suggests, is what ultimately worked for me. 

My sister just moved her craft room and reorganized it. She was stifled by having everything put away. I laughed and said I work best with a clean slate. I told her about the Clutterbug website, and sure enough, she's a bee. Where I like things hidden away, she wants to see all of her projects. 

My sister and I have been watching the clutterbug videos and talking about the info she gives. We are both very different in how we prefer things, but we agree she is spot on on what works for both of us. 

Why do I mention that here? Every time I post photos of my sewing room here on my blog, or in any of my online groups, I get lots of comments and personal messages about how organized it all is. When it comes to my quilting stuff, I am most like the cricket I came out as the first time I took the quiz. My scrap user system is sorted by size, then color. My yardage is sorted by one yard or less, or more than a yard, also sorted by color. Thread is sorted by type, weight and color. Other things in my sewing room are not so specifically organized, and my ladybug shows through. Buttons are in a jar, zippers in a bag, rulers only hung by shape so they fit best on my pegboard. Non quilting fabrics are in totes by fabric type. Basically, the stuff I use the most is super organized, the other stuff is just divided into general categories. 

Instead of asking me for advice, check out all of Cassandra Aarssen's stuff, because she is spot on in my opinion. She's the professional organizer, not me. She does have books you can buy, but she also has a bunch of stuff available for free. 

And to keep things quilty related and personal, I had WAY too many projects out and visible. My version of cleaning those up? Get them into quilt tops, and once they are a quilt tops they can live on a hanger in the closet until I get around to quilting them. 

These three quilt tops are all hanging in the closet now, out of my way. None of these have deadlines, but I have other things that do, so these needed to disappear from view. I'm almost finished another quilt top too, then I'll put borders on DD#3's wedding quilt so it's ready for next basting spree. After that I'll start back on the deadline quilts I'm not very far along on. 

I had five overdue wedding quilts. I'm finished one, almost finished another, have one pinbasted, one that needs borders, and one with a lot to do. You'd think that with one finished and one to be finished this weekend, I'd be down to three, but no. I've had a nephew and a niece announce engagements, so I'll still be at five wedding quilts. Add to that three grandkids with new beds, and one new grandson due in January, and I've got plenty to keep me busy! 

Two Years Late

I have been drowning in a list of overdue wedding quilts, but I can finally cross one off of my list.

This quilt is for DS the Elder and DDIL. They just had their second wedding anniversary, so it's way overdue, but it's in the mail on the way to them now. The pattern is called Faceted Jewels, though I did make some very minor changes to the pattern. 

The quilt center that needed to be trimmed up in my last post is now a completed quilt top.

It's a big quilt to lay out in the house, so it's folded into fourths in this photo. This quilt is a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, Allietare. This one will be going to one of my grandsons who just got a full-sized bed.

My next quilting projects are FMQ another overdue wedding quilt, and finish assembling three quilts that I've already starting assembling. I keep having to grab another project to use as leader/enders, so quilts are being made in between other things. I have three projects I need to cut out right now, but I'm trying to clean up the three partially assembled quilts before I really get into all of that cutting. Once I get those into quilt tops, I'll feel better about having a bunch of newly cut quilts hanging around. 

I decided I wanted a sewing area in the living room again. I love my sewing studio, but late at night it's kind of weird sewing in the basement. I've been wanting to start sewing up some strings, which are overflowing their containers, and a small corner of the living room can easily be set up for just that purpose. I really work best when I have a different project at each machine. Life might be easier if I were a start to finish quilter, but I'm not wired that way, so it's not going to happen. Strings are an excellent thing to sew when I want to switch up machines, so I think my living room will be where I rotate through my vintage machines. I usually talk about rotating out my Singer 201, but it's my favorite vintage machine, and I never want it put away. It is fun to sew on different machines, and I have some great vintage options, so maybe this will be what actually gets me to rotate through them. 

So, once I set up the living room sewing corner, I'll have four machines up all the time. Downstairs in my studio, I have my Tin Lizzie sit down longarm for FMQ. The Singer 201 is my go to for piecing blocks. My Bernina 440 I usually use for assembling quilts (mostly due to the large cabinet it's in), sewing on binding, and doing any non-quilt related sewing. The living room will have whichever machine I want to sew on at the time, and I think I'm going to start with my pink Atlas!

Sewing by the Timer

I really hate how injuries, and maybe just growing old, make you change how you do things. I miss the days I could sew for hours on end, making the time DH is working fly by. I miss that, BUT I am thankful I can still sew! I have to work smarter, not harder. 

Now that I've got a nice pile of basted quilts, I'm well into my new habit of FMQ an hour a day. I literally set a timer, and quilt for one hour, then it's time for a break. 

After that break, I can either work on cutting a project, but I limit cutting sessions to 30 minutes, because they are harder on my arm. I have several must do projects that need to be cut out, but even 30 minutes a day will get them cut out eventually. If I have a lot of pressing to do before cutting, I give myself an hour of pressing/cutting combination. Then it's break time again, usually lunch.

After lunch, depending on how my arm is doing, I can piece blocks or assemble a quilt. Anytime I'm working with large amounts of fabric to move around, it harder on my arm, so I'll only sew an hour on assembly, but I will do up to two hours a day piecing blocks as long as my arm is feeling OK. 

It feels weird setting a timer to sew, but I lose track of time if I don't. If I do too much in a day, I really aggravate that repetitive stress injury, and I may not be able to sew for several days. I'm only sewing/quilting/cutting 2-4 hours a day now, when I used to do 8 hours easily. I'm kind of glad I've been concentrating on UFO's, because some of the work is already done, and I can see progress faster. 

Here is a quilt center I finished assembling this week. It's just draped over my cutting table. I need to press it then trim it up so I can add  borders.

Can you see the odd bits that need to be trimmed off? On point settings with pieced setting triangles can be pretty tricky. It shouldn't take long to trim it up, then I can cut the border, which will just be a dark blue. This quilt needs to be done by October, so it will be basted next basting spree. I just need to finish the top first!

I have all the fabric now to make the latest wedding quilt. This is a new engagement, and I could possibly get it done before the wedding. I ordered more fabric than I needed, because I want to make a quilt for my bed in one of the colors they chose for the new wedding quilt. Cutting both of those quilts will go into my daily cutting time, along with finishing cutting the big boy bed quilt for Mr. LJ I already started. 

There are some advantages to sewing by timer. I find I stay much more focused on what I am doing because I only have a limited time to do it. I probably get more done in my new timed hours, than I did when I wasn't timing myself. 

Another advantage is actually knowing how long it takes to do something. I am currently quilting a quilt that is 108" square, not a small quilt by any means. After quilting for an hour, I figured out how much I got finished, and realized I'd have the quilting finished after 10 one hour sessions. I know FMQ times vary drastically on what pattern you are quilting. I am doing a freehand allover pattern with leaves. I am so far behind on quilts, I definitely feel finished is better than perfect, I can meander faster than the leaf pattern, but I get sick of meandering. This was a good compromise, more interesting to quilt, but still easy and quick. 

Since I am quilting by timer, I find myself quilting on days I normally wouldn't have. Usually if DH is off work, I wouldn't go in the sewing room at all. Now, if he gets busy doing something, I go sew for an hour, then check in with him. I've been quilting on the current quilt every day, I haven't had a day I couldn't sneak in an hour so far. At that rate, I could finish quilting three queen/king sized quilts in a month, all while working on other projects too! Since I have five overdue wedding quilts, and now a sixth one to make, it is actually encouraging that I could get caught up in just a couple months. I know there will be days I won't be able to sew at all due to other obligations, but still, sneaking an hour is doable on a lot of days, and if I'm interrupted, my timer has a pause button!