Yesterday was such a busy sewing day. I was inside almost all day feeling not quit right. Not sick, not great, just not feeling 100% – so I sewed! (Today I feel fine so far) I showed you all the bag I made yesterday – I was also working on Joseph’s Coat.
I got the diagonal row sewed on –
I even got the black circles sewed on – I was doing nothing but sitting at the sewing machine working on the bag, or sitting in the living room watching old tv shows on Netflix and sewing on Joseph’s Coat
So today for WIP Wednesday head on over to Lee at Freshly Pieced and see what everyone else is working on – I’m going to be cutting these two fabrics up for the next row – these rows are getting shorter and shorter and going faster and faster now!
Now that Star Crazy is done and on my bed there is no reason to not throw myself into finishing up Joseph’s Coat. It has been 10 months at least since I started this quilt – yes I know I am hand piecing it but still – enough already – I’m ready to be done with this quilt top and move on to more!!
I finished piecing the latest of the blues and that diagonal row is now ready to be stitched on to the top. I’ll lay it out and take another photo after I get this row sewed on to it.
I think I am going to make another tote bag – using the same pattern as the last one but the medium size version. I’m not sure if I will start it today or not –
I got some more fabric on sale – it seems like I am stocking up a little bit right now while things are on sale. I guess with the Quilt Market having just taken place in Kansas City some of the sites have been putting things on sale making room for new stuff. I ordered the two solid color packages from Judi at Green Fairy they are called “Cotton Shades” from Riley Blake it was 40% off! – they actually go really well with 2 other stacks of fabric that Mike got me for Christmas – one is a Riley Blake collection as well and the other is Bonnie & Camilla’s
I’m not sure if I will mix and match these 4 bundles or not into a large quilt or make several small quilts. I need to look at patterns and see what I like. I still plan on making the quilts I have previously mentioned in the last several weeks – but there is always room for more! With these fabrics I am thinking something with big pieces, modern looking with white thrown in also – hmm – now to decide on a pattern and will I get started on something new this summer or not – I know I don’t want to get back into the working on 3 to 5 things at once again but sometimes it just seems like you really want to work on more than two at a time doesn’t it!
For sure – it is getting down right warm every single day – still no rain in my little corner of Arkansas. It has been missing us – other than a 5 minute thing here and there for about a month now. I have been watering the yard and the plants for over two weeks now – just enough to keep them alive – I don’t want a huge water bill. I dug up the potatoes last night and I guess I got about 5 to 8 pounds worth – I could tell it wasn’t going to be a good harvest, the plants just didn’t look good if you know what I mean. As you see though I only garden for the heck of it, not with the intention of having something to eat for months on end 
this colander full will be enough for some good potato salad and other meals for several weeks only!
The yellow squash that I thought was going to produce well, hasn’t – the veggies are getting soft and not maturing and falling off – what causes that I wonder? The zucchini has a lot of blossoms but no veggies. The only thing that is doing well are the tomatoes & peppers – I hope they stay alive long enough for me to get all the tomatoes off of them that are on them now without having to put them in the windowsill to ripen. The woes of container gardening – you have to water every single day when it gets hot.
Yesterday morning I had quilt group and I brought Joseph’s Coat to work on – I have three more segments to work on and then the row can be attached!
I got started hand stitching the binding on Star Crazy yesterday – I sat down two different times with it and I am almost done with one side! Here is one section of it – I don’t know if you noticed that I decided to have rounded corners on it when it was on the quilting frame way back at the beginning.
I fold the quilt up and lay it across my lap so the heaviness of the quilt doesn’t make me too hot while working on it.
And just for fun so I could say I got started on the quilting – I sat at the quilting frame for about 10 minutes or so last night and stitched along the vine and leaves on the beginning of the Pineapple Square wall hanging.
I got some questions on how and why do I keep track of time spent on my quilts. It all started way back when – people would ask “how long did it take you to make that quilt” and I could say oh about a year and then would be asked “well did you work on it every day, every week, a day here and there” you get the picture? So when I started a new quilt – piecing about 12 years or so ago – I put a little notebook in the basket with the work and when I would sit down to start to hand piece or applique I would jot down the time started and stopped and write down the minutes when I was done. I did this throughout the whole process and was amazed at how many hours had accumulated during the making of the quilt. Then when I began to quilt that quilt I kept the same notebook right there by the quilt and continued to keep track of my time – this was just for my information – but also so that when someone asks that question “will you make me one” I can truthfully say – “do you realize how long it takes me to make this – and of course “how much does it cost to make it” – especially if they have said “I’ll pay you” – they quickly realize that maybe they can’t afford to have me make them a quilt after all. Like for Star Crazy – 250 hours of work and cost was at around $170 and that was only because a lot of the fabric in it was on sale. What kind of price would you put on that? It is very hard to price hand quilted quilts because of the time involved – next to impossible to put a price per hour on something like this. Anyway that was probably more of an answer than you all wanted but that is why I keep track of my time!
I got the machine part of the sewing done this afternoon for the binding on Star Crazy. Working binding in a small room is a bit of a challenge. I have to pull my SewEzi table out from the tight little space it goes in, I get a small fold out table out and put it next to it – I pull Mike’s office chair over so some of it can rest on that – but it got done!
I have it all folded up now so it will be easy to work with and will get to the hand stitching later today or tomorrow.
I had enough backing and batting leftover from Star Crazy (I had cut it way too long) that I was able to cut it and sew it back together again to fit the Pineapple Square Wall Hanging and still had some of that backing and batting leftover! Here it is ready to work on.
This sure is little on the big quilting frame – I don’t know if I have every had something so small on it. Almost the whole this is showing right now. You know I totally forgot I said I was going to clean out under that frame before I put anything else on it!
My space back to being a computer table – Words with Friends – playing two games – one with daughter and one with sis in law.
I got the backing fabric for the Joseph’s Coat quilt – all ready for when it is finished! I like the wide back fabrics from Christian Lane Quilters – if you have never tried them you might want to check out the Fatbacks! Prices aren’t bad – here is what I got for Joseph’s Coat – I just ordered it about 3 or 4 days ago and it came today – what fast service.
We have a barbecue college graduation party to go to tomorrow for one of my many nieces – should be fun – I’m seeing the family way to much this year 
This much left to do! 10 inches wide by 100 inches long – and then this quilt will be ready for the binding – what more can I say about that 
I worked for 45 minutes this morning and was able to finish that last section before rolling her on down for the last sections.
I hoped to do more on Joseph’s Coat last night – but what can I say – it was season finals on the two shows I was watching, my eyes were more on the tv than the piecing one more season final tonight that I watch – Criminal Minds – then it will be back to reruns and getting more work done.
This morning has been busy already – watering outside plants, doing laundry, put everything in the crock pot for baked beans and the smell is going through the house already – they smell so good. Got the 45 minutes of quilting done and now it is time to read, then lunch, go work out and back home to sew some more. And read! Jonathan Sandford’s new book Stolen Prey was released yesterday – I had pre-ordered and it came to my Kindle right away – that is one author that I spend the money on – I think I have reread every single book of his once or twice – I love his stuff! It will be hard to pull myself away from his book and sew!
More progress on Joseph’s Coat. Someone (I think Cathy) said they thought I was moving along quickly on this quilt and I thought no I hadn’t been – I started it last July I believe or was it August? But then I remembered I was gone in September and October and hadn’t worked on it for 2 months, I was gone a week at Thanksgiving and it stayed home. I ran back and forth to see my mom so many times when she was in poor health in January and February I lost track of how often I worked on it then – it is almost done – I guess I moved faster on it than I thought I had. I think if I was actually counting days up it would total a good 7 or 8 months of hand piecing work.
I got another diagonal row cut out last evening and pinned in placed, stacked up and sewed one segment together – moving right along! Laying in place. Another person-sorry I lost track of who asked “how big is the quilt” – it will be about 104 x 104 inches I believe.
A closer view.
When the quilt is folded in half lengthwise you can see what is left to do – keep in mind the above row that was laying on the floor is now pinned and stacked up so that part is in your imaginations for laying over some of the orangey colors – what is left is not a lot is it!
Almost done!!!
I will show how Star Crazy is going later – I actually worked on it a bit yesterday also.
What am I doing today? Hopefully working on all three projects!! Head on over to Judy at Patchwork Times and see what everyone else is working on too.
First off work must continue on Star Crazy – final border – lets see how much of this quilt gets done this week – the end is near and I want to get it finished!
Joseph’s Coat – the row is sewed on – let the work on the circles begin!
A little more work on the scraps was done yesterday – I intend to add to this pile during the week.
Did you all have a good mothers day? We had a nice fairly lazy day at home. I helped Mike with a few things outside and worked on my quilts a little bit. In the evening we lite a fire in the fire pit outside and enjoyed a glass of wine while watching a couple hummingbirds come to the feeder.
Don’t you just love these tiny little birds – love those beaks – reminds me of a needle.
The sun going down – looking out through the trees.
If we don’t get rain pretty soon we won’t be able to use our fire pit – it is very dry – we – in my little spot of Arkansas that is have had very little rain since the beginning of April. It seems to be missing us – we barely had enough the other day to get the porch wet, I have been having to water my plants already! I hope a burn ban doesn’t come into affect soon. We have dry patches of grass – the hollyhocks were so dry this morning – I had forgotten them – the stalks of buds were drooping – I watered them and they perked back up but I shouldn’t have to water plants so much at this time of May. No rain in the forecast for this week – please tell me we are not heading towards a drought.
I am done with all the segments for this lot of colors and ready to attach the row. The circles are made – needing less and less of them as these rows get shorter as well – only 13 needed this time.
The next two colors
My lovely big hydrangea bush is in full bloom and this year like last year has an array of colors on it where as it used to just be bloom. I know my soil must be changing but I have never gotten around to testing it – I’m not that serious of a gardener. All of these off of the same bush.
The vase – picked up in Pennsylvania years ago.
Do you change out quilts on your bed often? I don’t really. I normally have one on the bed that I made with a heavier batting for the cooler months, then switch it out about this time of year for one with a lighter batting.
Last week I put “Going in Circles” back on the bed – what a light airy feeling it gives the room. Now I just have to find a new pillow for myself. Mike likes his but I need something soft. I have one of those memory foam neck pillows right now and it worked for a long time but recently it just hasn’t felt right. I think I will search for a new pillow today.
I have made great progress on the row of Joseph’s Coat that I am working on in the past two days – 5 segments left to do.
I got in an hour of quilting and marking quilt lines on Star Crazy last night while I watched a little tv.
Windows are open wide since last night – cool front has come through and it is in the 50’s at night right now and looks like for most of the week with dryer air I might be able to leave the windows open this week.
Off and on yesterday while sitting and taking breaks, watching tv ect. I managed to get back to busy on Joseph’s Coat – it was no hardship I want to get this baby done! It of course isn’t quite this color – but close. I will work on it more today.
Last night for 45 minutes I moved to the back room to do some hand quilting on Star Crazy. The corners of this quilt are going to be rounded. I am using a heavy acrylic template that is for the Drunkards Path quilt block to mark rounded corners using the inside curve. I do this in advance so I don’t put any quilting in that area. The tape just marks the center.
I didn’t get a lot of quilting done last night as we were talking a bit and getting caught on things.
One of these days I will get back to my scrap organizing – I really need to spend at least one day a week on this – I started out so good than got side tracked – I knew that would happen.
