Middle Monday in March

/ quiltinggail

Lots of things happening here. All in my studio … no travelling …

Teaching

On Friday, I taught a Scrappy Irish Chain class. It’s the first class I’ve taught by Zoom. It was a lot of fun! And the ladies were wonderful!

There are 2 things that I did not like about teaching via Zoom and both of these help me in reducing my own stash!

  1. I couldn’t walk around the group with a bunch of my own 2″ or 2.5″ squares and give them to everyone to include in their own quilt.
  2. I couldn’t take a huge box of scraps and tell everyone that I wanted the box empty after the class.

I make 4 patches as leaders and enders … and occasionally, they work into a quilt. I have a lot of Irish Chain pieces and they were put back in the box until I teach this class again.

As I was demo-ing various parts, I managed to get some of the components sewn. This is 9 completed blocks.

Design Wall

Piecing

Then on Saturday, I took a class “Speed Dating with Improv” with Krista Hennebury @ Poppyprint. I don’t do Improv … I’ve not been too interested in Improv … but … it doesn’t hurt to learn something new, right? But, to be brutally honest: I was scared!!! Improv is so out of my box!!!

However, I certainly felt a LOT different after the class!!! We cut things free hand. Yes, straight lines and curves!!! With NO rulers!!!! The piecing doesn’t have to match!!! Woo Hoo!!! After years of attempting to get great points and to match corners … it didn’t matter!!! It was a LOT of fun!!!! If you’re interested in Improv, check out Krista’s classes @ Poppyprint.

I used Island Batik solids: black, white and turquoise.

Here’s a picture of what’s on my design wall. Now, to organize and arrange and put all the fillers in.

Quilting: 

The T-shirt quilt is now a pieced top … and is sandwiched. There is a TON of stretch with the T-shirts – even though they all have interfacing on the back. They still stretch! Sew, I thought I’d use Hobbs fusible batting with the hopes that it would decrease the stretch. However, there is the issue of using heat on top of the logos. Sew, I used a pressing cloth. It took 2 full days to press everything … and it didn’t always stick very well. Sew, a lot of pins were inserted!

I started out with a Schmetz 90/14 quilting needle. It didn’t like it. Then, once I re-thought what I was sewing through … T-shirt material, iron-on interfacing, fusible batting and cotton backing … a light bulb went off in my brain and I switched to a ball point needle (Janome blue-tip). Much better!

Then there was issues with the thread. I started off with Glide … it bunched up above the needle and broke a ton!! Then I switched to the same colour in a CanSew polyester thread … same problem. Finally, I switched to Aurifil and viola! It’s the perfect thread for this quilt.

Here’s some pictures of me quilting the quilt! It’s big … it’s over 6′ x 8′. It will be a wall hanging / banner.

Stash Report

The Moorewood Mystery is finished. It used 12 yards from my stash. You can read about it HERE.

  • Fabric Used this week      12   yards
  • Fabric Used this year:       18.5 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:  0  yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      9 yards  (my husbands amounts as well)
  • Net Fabric used                  9.5 yards (YAY … no longer in the red!)
  • Husband’s purchases:  0 yards (which are added into my total amount of Fabric added this year). For those of you who don’t know … my husband often buys more fabric than I do … so, I’m keeping track! Unfortunately, he doesn’t sew!

Stitchin’ Time

I’m aiming for at least 30 minutes a day.

I have stitched for over 30 minutes each day

  • January – February –  59 / 59
  • March – 14 /1 4
  • Percentage = 100 % 

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

TO DO 

Chris from ChrisKnits is hosting it “To Do” every week. You can check out her blog HERE.

Last week:

I accomplished everything on my To Do List!!!

  1. Pick out a backing for  SAHRR √   done   
  2. Finish quilting Moorewood Mystery √   done
  3. Get the Echo Lake T-shirt top completed √   done
  4. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS!  √   done
  5. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes      √   done

This week’s list:

  1. Get Echo Lake T-shirt  quilt finished.
  2. Sandwich SAHRR
  3. Borders on Healthcare Hero’s Mystery (this is for the guild …)
  4. Arrange Speed Dating top
  5. Work on Salt and Sand project!
  6. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  7. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

One UFO completed … but the list in Starts in 2021 is getting longer …

What’s coming up on the blog in March?

Salt and Sand Blog Hop … Just thinking of this blog hop makes me want to travel and visit someplace warm! But alas, I’ll be staying home for now. But, I’m positive when we get to travel, I will appreciate it much much more!

March 29 – SAHRR parade … there will be a linky party for all the SAHRR quilts

And … I need to think of my project for the Table Runner Scrap Challenge:

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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26 thoughts on “Middle Monday in March”

  1. Pingback: Salt and Sand Blog Hop and Green Table Topper | Quilting Gail

  3. Wow! You had a great week Gail. Teaching, taking classes, finishing everything on your list and another finish. That’s so inspiring! My week went great until a squirrel bit me today! Rearranging my sewing space took up too much of my day, but now it’s machine time! 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I love that “don’t be distracted” is on your to-do list! I need that sometimes! Well, I need it always but sometimes I’m better than others at following it! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Great job on the improv! I am totally with you on it, stress about it in ways I just shouldn’t. Hope to do something this year I love, but hot mess is how I feel it looks. I think you did a terrific job and so many of those pieces look perfect!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. The improv blocks look good. The colors really work in all those units. You’ve gotten off to a great start this year. Having stitched every day of 2021 is pretty impressive. Good luck with the t-shirt quilting.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks, Kathy!
      It was fun to work on the improv units.
      With staying at home, it’s not hard to get in my 30 minutes (usually a LOT more) of sewing/quilting each day!
      The t-shirt quilting is slowly getting done!

      Like

  8. I’m so glad that you decided to come give improv a try and that you liked it! Your little improv units all look great and I look forward to seeing how you puzzle them together. Have fun and play!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Hi Gail! I didn’t realize that you taught quilting classes. Zoom certainly does add a different spin to a class, and the most obvious are the points that you mentioned. Not being able to add some newness to their scraps is a shame. I have to agree that Improv is out of my comfort zone, as well. It’s not that I don’t enjoy improv pieces – it’s just too loosy goosy for me. HAHA! I adore your fabric choices and the blocks that you’ve made – and, I can’t wait to see how it turns out when you’ve finished. Thanks for sharing your thought process on the needle for quilting the t-shirts. I have issues FMQing them and always end up doing a crosshatch pattern with my walking foot. Next time, I’ll have to check on my needle. Finally, everything on your list is marked DONE. Great job! ~smile~ Roseanne

    Liked by 1 person

    • Roaseanne, you are such an encourager!!! I appreciate all of your comments!
      Yes, once I retired from teaching nursing, I started teaching quilting. Teaching quilting is way more fun and I don’t need to worry about life and death situations … except when people leave their rotary cutter open!!! 🙂
      Hopefully, my list will get done again this week! Time will tell! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Your improv pieces look like a pro did them! I may have to check into Poppyprint. If you run into another t shirt quilt giving you grief when trying to make the sandwich try Sulky Adhesive Spray KK 2000. It’s temporary but doesn’t harm you when sprayed indoors. I will use it when I’ve tried to adhere interfacing or other iron on stabilizers and they don’t stick well. I’ve used others but I like this one the best.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Bonnie!
      I’ll keep the Sulky Spray in mind … but I know that I won’t be doing another t-shirt quilt anytime soon!!!

      Yes, do check into Krista’s classes at Poppyprint! She’s an excellent teacher! 🙂

      Like

  14. Pingback: Sunday Stash March 14, 2021 | quiltpaintcreate

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