We Now Interrupt This Interruption...

I don't feel like I have too much craziness going on, but I do have several things going on that's interrupting my routine. DH and I were talking about how as we age, we are finding it harder to get back to normal after an interruption. I don't really think of myself as that old, 50's are the new 40's, right? I think more than age it's the fact we are empty nesters now, so by default our lives are a little slower, and we aren't interrupted as often as before, so we're losing our ability to deal with distractions.   

Today I should have time to sew, but over the next couple weeks I likely won't have much sewing time. 

I did get the mattress and pillow made for the doll cradle DH made for Miss E. This fabric was from my mom's stash, and she actually used this fabric to make the doll cradle mattress and pillow for my doll cradle when my girls were little. When I gave DD#1 the option of three fabrics to choose from for Miss E's cradle accessories she automatically went for that one, since she remembered it from her childhood. 

Another weighted blanket is finished. I had hoped to be out of pellets by the end of May, and that's not the case. I did finish the top to another weighted blanket yesterday, and I hope to sew all the channels in it today, so if I have any time next week I can start filling it. I'll still have pellets left after that one too, since I had to order more white pellets. The dryer sheets did calm the black pellets down, and I actually used them in this weighted blanket. The fabrics were dark enough to not have the black show through, and I opted for a black backing so I could use them. The last weighted blanket I made was too light to work with the black pellets, I did a trial and you could see the pellets through more than one of the fabrics in that one. This top passed the trial. It was still harder to shake the black pellets down into the blanket since they are so small, it was easier for them to get stuck on the seams. 

I made three drawstring bags out of scooter fabric for DH. He publishes a small scooter magazine, besides being a full time RN. He has a business trip coming up for the magazine, and he's donating prizes for a raffle at a scooter event. I made the bags for him to put the prizes in.

I need to make new scrub tops for DH, several he currently has should be "retired". I've been looking for Godzilla fabric for years, but most that I've seen that said Godzilla fabric just look like cartoon dinosaurs. DH loves Godzilla, and I knew he'd love a scrub top with the right fabric. I was looking for something else on ebay, and on a whim I looked up Godzilla fabric.

It's perfect! The seller was in India, but the fabric got here in just over a week, which was fantastic! Next week my main "sewing" goal is to cut out several scrub tops for DH. I haven't made him any in at least four years, and I've got a stack of fabric collected for just that purpose. I'm hoping to have a couple finished before Father's Day, but we'll see. 

I also received the extra superhero fabric I needed for a wedding quilt. 

I decided to add some unexpected superheroes. I love that "Saving the day one day at a time" Good advice, taking each day and disaster as they come. I only bought a fat quarter of this, but I might see if I can find yardage of it, it would make great pajama pants. 

Now the superhero themed wedding quilt is all cut out and ready to sew. I was unsure of the wedding date, and now that I know, I also know this quilt will be late. The wedding quilt I need for July is basted, so I'm thinking I should get that one done without a problem. The third wedding quilt I need this year is cut out but not started. The wedding date had been in December, but it's been moved up to September. I'm going to try it get it done on time, and hopefully I will. It's a king sized quilt, but an easy pattern. Assembling and quilting it will be harder than making the blocks. 

I didn't get any basting done this week, but with so many interruptions, I did OK.

Flirting with Procrastination

 Have I been procrastinating? Sort of. I say I've been flirting with procrastination, because I have been getting some stuff done, just not as much as I COULD be getting done. 

I did get one of the needed weighted blankets finished. I've had this top done for over a year, so definitely procrastination was going on with that project. For that matter, I've been slow going on all the weighted blankets, because I'm really not a fan of making them. It hurts my arm so much to make them, that I end up having to ice my arm, and it's hard to get myself psyched up to do something I know I'm going to pay a physical price for. Stuffing the first half isn't too bad, it's the second half that gets me. 

I'm sewing the vertical channels in another weighted blanket today. Honestly, I had time earlier in the week, I could have had a second weighted blanket finished by now, but I didn't do it. 

Ah, but what DID I do this week besides this weighted blanket. I basted one of the wedding quilts I need to finish. See, I'm already putting those pins back to work!

I fussy cut 177 2.5" squares, which is really a lot when you know I'm not fan of fussy cutting. The pattern I'm making I've made before and never done any fussy cutting for it, it's originally a scrap quilt, but this time I'm making it a themed quilt and I needed to fussy cut the small squares to make it look the best. I also got the rest of that quilt cut, well, as much as I could. I needed 20 different superhero fabrics, and I only had 19. I thought I had some Thor fabric left from another project, but I didn't. Also, two of the fabrics I had are too similar, so since I needed to order a couple fat quarters, I ordered three more, and I can choose the best 20 of the now 22 superhero fabrics. Most of those fabrics I only had a fat quarter. If I only had a fat quarter, I cut the whole fat quarter up. I need 10.5" squares and 2.5" squares for the wedding quilt. I think I have enough 10.5" squares left to make a smaller version of the wedding quilt, but it may have repeats. I cut some extra 2.5" squares, but not enough for the smaller quilt. Once I get the last couple fat quarters, I can see how large I can make the second quilt. 

You can only get two 10.5" squares from a fat quarter, so besides cutting some 2.5" squares, I also cut some 6.5" squares. That is the size square I usually use for I Spy quilts, and I have several patterns I routinely use for themed squares that size. I never put less than a fat quarter back into my regular stash, so cutting the extra bits into sizes I can use, and still take advantage of the novelty fabric is a good plan for me. I did have more than a fat quarter of some fabrics, so the extra of those I kept together in a bundle, and I'll go into that when I get around to making more superhero quilts. I figured those would be great donation quilts, and popular with kids and teens. 

I have several projects I need to do, and even more that I want to do. When I'm feeling procrastination trying to derail me, I try to stick with an "As long as I'm doing something, and making progress on some project, even if it's not what I should be working on, that's OK". I've found that forcing myself to work on something I don't want to work on really backfires in the end. 

To give myself a break from doing all that fussy cutting, I cut all the pieces I needed for another quilt that was really easy cutting. That got me to not only finish the fussy cutting, but now I've got another quilt well on it's way too. 

This morning I realized part of the reason I've been having a hard time getting myself to finish the other weighted blankets is because I haven't been doing any piecing in the last couple weeks, and piecing is my favorite part of quilting! 

I put this quilt up on the design wall, and now I'll work on assembling it (with sashing, but the sashing wouldn't fit on the design wall with the blocks) I assembled the bottom row, (which was on the floor because this will be a king sized quilt) and after doing a bit of piecing, and making a couple blocks as leaders/enders while assembling the bottom row, I was ready to tackle another weighted blanket. I got the sides sewn, turned it right side out and topstitched the edges. I pinned it so it's ready to sew the vertical channels as soon as I finish blogging. It only took assembling one row and making three nine patches for me to get a piecing fix and an improved attitude. 

I am so thankful I have the space to have more than one sewing machine set up. I keep my vintage Singer 201 always set up for piecing, so no matter what other projects I've got going on, I can always steal a few minutes of piecing time with minimal fuss. What I don't know is why I hadn't done that in the past couple weeks, because it likely would have helped my attitude all along. 

I have a little project I have to finish before Sunday. DH finished the doll cradle for Miss E, and it came out fantastic!

I love the mixture of woods he used, and I'm so happy for him it came out so well. Woodworking is something he's always wanted to get into, but was always thinking his projects wouldn't come out like he pictured them in his head. I get it, sometimes making a quilt is the same way, especially when you're learning a new skill. Miss E turns three on Saturday, and we are having her birthday party here on Sunday. I've got to make a mattress and pillow for the doll cradle before then, and it's already Thursday! Since I just made those same items for Miss X, I know I can get it done in an hour or so, so I'm not too worried. Miss E already has a doll quilt, so that I don't have to make!

What's your strategy for procrastination? Sometimes I resort to using a timer to get me past something I don't want to do, but this time I didn't have to. Giving myself some time to work on some easier stuff was all it took this time around. 

So How Many Basting Pins Do I Have?

 I have finished all the quilts I had basted, so for the first time in years, I actually got to see all of my basting pins together.

There was no way I was counting this many pins, and the plastic grip covers take up a lot of space, so I decided the best way to estimate was by weight. I decided to weigh 50 pins and figure it out from there, but I realized that each pin with a pin cover weighed almost exactly 1 gram, so I just dumped all of the pins into a bowl and weighed that. (Yes I accounted for the weight of the bowl) So approximately how many pins do I have? You can guess, and I'll tell you at the end of this post.

I'm adding a disclaimer here. No one NEEDS this many pins. I bought these pins over several years, so it's not like I went out and went crazy buying pins. I do toss dull pins, but I reuse the plastic grips on the newer pins. Without the plastic grips, basting would be very difficult for me, my fingers don't always work as well as I'd like, and the grips make the process MUCH easier. Now, most importantly, yes, I do USE this many pins. I like to have a huge basting spree, where all I do for a week or so is baste quilts. I baste until I am out of pins, then I have a big stack ready to quilt. That works for me. It might sound crazy to some of you, and that's OK. All of us have to find the way we work best. Because I like to baste a bunch of quilts at once, and I don't like the idea of spraying my quilt with chemicals, I am unlikely to ever switch to basting spray, so lots of pins is the way to go for me. 

I've had three finishes this week, from a basting spree from long ago. Every time I baste a deadline quilt, I baste a couple UFO's too. My pile of quilts ready to baste goes up and down all the time. At the same time I feel a sense of accomplishment at seeing the area I store basted quilts empty, I'm also feeling the need to fill up that space again with basted quilts, so I'm hoping to get at least a couple quilts basted next week.

These two quilts were from a floral busting attempt a few years ago. I had a whole bolt of the background fabric, and I believe I ended up with four quilts from my floral busting efforts. The other two quilts were finished and gifted quite a while ago. 

This is the back of that second quilt. DH's grandmother's stash had a bunch of salmon-y peach in it and I knew I'd be unlikely to use it anytime soon. Using it for a backing worked well for me, and as long as I piece the backing as leaders/enders while I'm making the top, I don't mind piecing a backing like this. 

This quilt was made from leftovers of a quilt I made for DD#2. While quilting this, I decided it was time to make another quilt from this pattern, so I've been cutting one out from autumn colors and cream strips. 

That makes 13 finishes so far in 2021, not bad for mid-May.

This weekend DH is having a four day scooter event, so I've got lots of sewing time that isn't usually available. My weekend priorities are finishing one weighted blanket, and doing lots of cutting. Besides the weighted blanket, I don't really plan on doing much sewing. I have a wedding quilt to cut out, and I have some cutting to do to move a couple other quilts forward. I need to do quite a bit of fussy cutting for the wedding quilt, and that always takes longer than I expect, so I'm trying not to make my goals unattainable. 

OK, do you have your guess for the number of pins I have? The scale said 2,546 grams, so I'm estimating that number of pins. Was your guess too high or too low?

Easy Week

 I'd say this week didn't go according to plan, but the fact of the matter is, I didn't really make many plans for the week. I got the J&J vaccine on Monday, and I wasn't sure how I'd be feeling, so I didn't plan much. As it turned out, besides some swollen lymph nodes, I felt perfectly fine, not even a sore arm. DH has struggled with nausea and headaches all week though. 

The little bit of plans I did make were derailed by the post office. The seller of my white poly pellets sent them Priority Mail, and as such they should have been delivered last week. I had hoped to finish Miss S's weighted blanket this week. Well, I didn't get the pellets until last night! The only progress I've made on the weighted blanket front is to get the third one's top almost assembled. The rows are in pairs, just five more seams and all the tops will be done. 

My design wall is empty, and even though I have several projects ready to go up on it, I didn't feel like laying out a quilt, so nothing there.

I did get half of the last basted quilt quilted, so there's that. I'm using a peach colored thread, and it's amazing on many fabrics the peach almost disappears.

When I was looking around my sewing room, I spied the brown 2" cut strips, the only color of 2" strips I hadn't tackled in my scrap busting projects. I've debated several plans for those strips, and changed my mind several times. Then, I remembered I had a container of fall colored strips and cream strips I had set aside for a particular project. It was supposed to be a gift, but circumstances changed and I now no longer have to make that quilt. That quilt was even listed on my UFO list. I knew those were 2" strips too, so I dug them out too. I started with the non-brown fall colored strips, and sewed each of those to a cream strip. When I ran out of the golds, oranges, reds, and greens, I went into the browns. I continued sewing a colored strip to a cream strip until I ran out of cream colored strips. Most of the creams are tone on tones, with a couple solids mixed in. I then made strip tubes out of the strips, since I've been watching a bunch of strip tube tutorials on YouTube. I don't have any of the Strip Tube rulers, but I do have a ruler with the same markings. I have the Quilt in a Day Triangle Square Up ruler. I had quite a few reds, but not much in the golds or oranges, so after I make the blocks with what I've got, I may decide to cut more strips in those colors just for variety's sake. 

This is most of the strip tubes I'll be making. I still have a few stripsets left to sew into tubes. I've got my ruler ready to subcut the strips, and I've moved all of that into the living room, because I do all my subcutting while watching TV (more listening than actual watching) Once I subcut all the strip tubes and sew those units into blocks, I'll decide if I need to make more strip tubes, or if I have enough. I have no expectation of what size quilt I'm making, projects like this are completely improvisational for me. I've had times I've had to cut more, and other times I've sewn up so many units I ended up with four quilts from the same fabrics. It doesn't matter to me. I really like using multiple tone on tone fabrics for a background, because if I do run short, I can cut whatever tone on tones I have currently and just mix them in with no drama, since there are already so many different background fabrics. 

I still had a bunch of brown strips left, so I sewed them into sets of four strips. It took some sorting to divide the strips by length. I didn't have many WOF strips left. 

I'm subcutting them to 3.5", and I'll add a strip of another color to each side to make a square block. I'm thinking I'll use a dark red, but I won't know for sure until I audition a couple options. I want this quilt to be pretty dark. There are always a lot of novelty fabrics in my scraps, so when I say these are brown strips, I'm really only talking the main background color. Depending on the scale of the novelty print, certain patches might not have any brown at all. 

Neither of these quilts were what I had planned for the brown strips, and that's OK by me. Sometimes I have specific quilts I make with scraps, other times it's just play, and whatever I feel like at the moment. 

I got a sweet surprise this week. 

I shared some poly thread with one of DH's coworkers. I had hit the jackpot at a thrift store a while back, and I just wasn't using the thread as quickly as I thought I would. The thread I had was meant for machine embroidery, but it works just fine as a quilting thread too. DH's coworker has an embroidery machine, so I sent a bunch of the thread I had to her. She's already using it in her embroidery machine, and gave me these fat quarters as a thank you. I can guarantee I'll use up the fat quarters faster than I would have the thread I gave her. I wasn't expecting anything in return, but it was a nice surprise. 

I haven't given much thought to next week's goals. Since Sunday is Mother's Day, DH is grilling steak and we are having my sister and my MIL over for dinner. Hopefully next week I'll get back to the weighted blankets, and maybe finishing the last of the long basted quilts. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!