Tuesday To Do

Last Week:

1. Continue work on Tater Tots /
2. Get Corona Sandwiched-quilting begun /
3. Buy additional quilting rulers for Corona quilting √
4. Squirrel? X
5. Drive Hubster south so he can take my parents to Florida √
6. Continue working on SAHRR 2.0 /
7. Maybe buy some more fabric? √

 

As you can see there’s been lots of progress on all fronts. The only thing I didn’t get to was a Squirrel. But that’s OK, the Squirrels are always there waiting for me! And I got way too many new rulers and too much fabric! 

This Week:

1. Finish quilting Corona
2. Finish piecing Tater Tots
3. Mount my Pantograph system and check it out
4. Squirrel?
5. Continue knitting Regina Marie

 

On Corona I have 1 side border almost done, planning to fill above the swag and maybe in the swag, then do the other 3 sides. Tater Tots is going to get attention today while I sew with friends!! Our meeting location has opened up their Community Center to us since their smaller office space is still off limits.

I got my PANTOGRAPH system on Saturday!!! I haven’t had a chance to mount it since I have been quilting Corona. They sent a Panto design with the handlebars, so I will use that on a charity quilt a friend gave me to quilt. Can’t wait! Maybe I will let a Squirrel in to play this week? And of course, I am still knitting on a shawl. Diva chose the same pattern for her wedding shawl, so I need to finish this one ASAP and get to work on hers! 

What’s on your list this week? 

It’s time for Roseanne and Sue’s party, make sure you go join in!

SAHRR 2021, LENGHTY POST!

Welcome to Week 2 of the SAHRR 2021! I am the host for the 1st Round of prompts. Before that, let me recap what’s going on. 

A few bloggers are joining Quilting Gail for the 2nd edition of Stay At Home Round Robin. I joined Gail last year for this fun QAL and finally that quilt is loaded and ready for quilting!

This year 7 bloggers have chosen a prompt for the rounds and we will show you how we interpreted each suggestion. You will keep your Round Robin in your possession and use your own fabric to make the rounds. There’s no shipping your center block to others, it’s all done in house. At the end of the 7 rounds you will have a flimsy that is ready for quilting! And maybe it won’t take you 7 months to finish!

• Round 1: Jan 18th Chris @ Chrisknitssews
• Round 2: Jan 25th Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
• Round 3: Feb 1st Anja @ Anja Quilts
• Round 4: Feb 8th Roseanne & Sue @ Home Sewn by Us
• Round 5: Feb 15th Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of my Quilting Life
• Round 6: Feb 22nd Susan @ Quilt Fabrication
• Round 7: Feb 28th Gail @ Quilting Gail

Be sure to visit the other designers to see how they use my prompt. And then link up your version. Each link party will stay open until the next round.

I callied the first round and chose Piano Keys. I used PKs on my first SAHRR and thought it would be a great way for you to dip your toes in the water. Simple, easy, and fast. Hmm, maybe I should have used these at the end when the piecing is more involved?

I mock up all my designs in EQ8, it’s a great way to audition colors and designs. For this round I determined how wide of a border I wanted. Knowing that small was the key word for me, I decided a 1.5″ finished border was the way to go.

EQ8 Mock Up

Before designing my round I needed to add a “coping” border to the center block. This gives your eye a resting spot, but it  can also even up your center to fit the next border. Our math may be precise, our sewing isn’t always as precise. Any extra fabric in your coping border can be trimmed down to fit the borders perfectly. 

Sometimes you need a little extra!

I determined 1″ coping strips would give me breathing room for the block to border gap.

I did the math and knew I needed 14 keys on the first side and 16 for the next side. I alternated my 3 colors with my black background to create a bold contrast. 

EQ8 Mock Up

I want my borders to start slim and grow as I move out to the other rounds. I also decided 2 sides would constitute my “round”. So it was doubly fortuitous that I chose to go first, now you can see alternate ways to handle your rounds. Remember, it’s YOUR project, make it work for you, 

My numbers were:

Center Block: 10.5″ square
Coping Border: 1″ strips on all 4 sides
Piano Keys: 1 strip of each color cut 11″x1.5″, 3 strips of black cut 11″x1.5″ These strips were paired and sewn together and subcut the strips into 2″x2.5″ pieces. Wait, that’s not square! I know. It’s my trick for accuracy when making small! Over cut, trim to size. So those subcuts get trimmed to 2″x2″

As close to precise as I can make them!

Then you just sew those pairs together in whatever color combo you want, add them to your sides and Ta-Da! Piano Keys!! Play me a tune! 

Some trimming of the coping border occurred to even up the sides.

Next week I’ll tell you all about the mistake these photos contain, but that’s for another day!

So, now it’s your turn! Show me what you got!! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=a3325ea8d75a7b860d96

Linking with
Design Wall
Monday Making

 

Stash Reports Week #1

Sewing Stats
Fabric In: +7.81 yards
Fabric Out: -.21 yards
Net Fabric: +7.60 yards
Fabric YTD: +11.69 yards
Spending YTD: $335.87

In: Eek! I’ve spent almost three times as much in January 2021 as I did in January 2020!! I don’t know if having a quilting machine is really saving me money? LOL But, I did get some lovely fabric from a local long arm machine vendor, who stocks thread, fabric, batting, and has an awesome crew of sales people! If you are in the area drop in to visit Accomplish Quilting! Or even if you aren’t check out their stores in Tennessee and Michigan. I also got the thread and rulers I needed to start quilting Corona RR. And then I got MORE rulers from another EQUALLY awesome shop, Always In Stitches, which is where I purchased Gigi. They have 2 baskets near the check out with cut pieces, at .10 cents a piece, in one, and WOF pieces, for $2.00, that are 12″ or less. I always dig through for pieces that might work for scrap projects.

Out: Not much this week. The little bit I cut was for my SAHRR, so you can’t see it! LOL. But I have worked on things that were already cut and did some quilting on Gigi!

Nothing finished, but quilting is happening!

STILL working on the shawl, it STILL doesn’t look much different.

Knitting Stats
Last Week: 55,085 yards/287 skeins
Knitted: 25 yards/0 skeins
Purchased: 0 yards/0 skeins
Ending Stash: 55,060 yards/287 skeins
Spending YTD: $0.00

In: No birthday yarn this week. Poo!

Out: Knitting on the shawl. A little here and there when I was in the car.

7/7 Days Week
15/16 Days YTD

Forgot to show these blocks I finished last week. They are for the baby quilts I am making for the next-door neighbor’s little ones.

January Goals

1. Finish piecing Tater Tots /
2. 2021 UFO Challenge #7 /
3. Guild BOM X
4. Quilts Plus BOM √
5. Squirrel #1-Gray Scale √
6. Join Afghan Squares X
7. Regina Marie Shawl /
8. 2021 SAHRR X
9. Track food intake/steps /
10. + 1: Footnote Quilt for Great-niece.

So far I have kept to the list. Of course I put a Squirrel in there and quickly used up my free Bingo square, LOL! But there are a few things I haven’t even looked at and I need to get them knocked out. The afghan, oh the afghan! This year I am going to note the items added after I made the initial month’s list. That way I know what was original and how much was added.

√ Done / In Progress X Not Done

Linking with
Oh Scrap
Sunday Stash
15 Minutes
Patchwork and Quilts
Slow Sunday Stitching

Friday FO! Or No

Another week of NOFOs. I have been working on projects, but I’ve been kind of MIA lately. I was waiting to get some rulers for quilting. And doing word puzzles. But now Corona Round Robin is loaded on Gigi and I want to do Baptist Fans across the inner section. Nay, I HAVE TO DO BAPTIST FANS!! I thought about buying a specialty ruler, but $60 for 1 ruler, um, no. Instead, I bought a set of nested circles from 1″-12″, a little more fiddly, but now I have all sizes of circles to use!

Wait, what’s that pretty stuff on the right?

I am making another Footnote quilt, this time for a Great-Niece, she is a pink and purple girl. I will add muted purple, chartreuse green, and a navy for contrast.

I bought a drab green thread to use on the SAHRR 2020 top and bottom. I should do a neutral on the top, but I just didn’t want to fight the tension between 2 colors, so I decided to blend with the green border fabric. Funny thing, there isn’t ANY green in the pieced top. There’s blues, grays, browns, reds, and golds. The border almost reads gray, so somehow, it works.

I made a drawing to help follow the direction I need to go to keep from backtracking. On the sides I get a little turned around, where I have to stitch partial fans.

Oops, I lined up on the wrong lines. Photo on right makes me wish I’d used the 2″ circle, but not enough to add to 24 blocks!

Fortuitously, I made the blocks 6″ and wouldn’t you know it, my fans can be worked to 6″! The blocks are helping me line everything up.

It is a drag having to reload the quilt going side to side. It’s just a few inches too wide for me to work across without shifting. I know a larger frame is in my future, but I figure Hubster wants time to recover from a 2020 wedding, Gigi’s purchase in 2020, Pantograph add-on purchase last week, and a 2021 wedding for Diva! LOL But wait, what about his new guitars and speakers? Hmm. I think we both need to stop spending his retirement!

Don’t forget to come back Monday for the 2nd week of SAHRR 2021! I am the host and will show you what I did with the 1st round of blocks. The only hint I will give you is small. Oy, SMALL!!

Whoop Whoop
Finished or Not
Peacock Party
TGIFF
Free Motion