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!

Several years ago I won a piece of hand dyed red fabric from Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber.  I hate to admit it but I lost track of that piece of fabric – it got tucked down in between several pieces of fabric among the short stacks – I forgot I had it.  I found it recently and I immediately once again wondered what should I make out of it.  I love the large tote bag that I made last month and the pattern came in three sizes.  I decided to make the medium size bag.  I have been busy today making this bag and I got some work done on Joseph’s Coat too – more on that one tomorrow.

The fabric.

First I pieced together a charm package of squares to use for the inside lining.

I had enough of that patchwork for two sides and one pocket.  I used some of the red for the center piece and one more pocket on the inside.

I am pleased with the look! The front.

The back

Two inside pockets, one outside pocket and I put a loop inside to hook my keys on.  Now tomorrow I need to shop for a new wallet – this one is going to be a large purse – I can fit my kindle in it for times I want it with me.  I can fit brochures in it when at museums and such – I can never fit them in the purses I normally use (smaller than this), my camera can be tossed in,  I’m going to get a couple small flat cosmetic types bags for organizing and it will be set!

Thank you Vicki for the win – sorry it took me so long to make something out of it!!

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!

Have you all been over to Amy at Amy’s Creative Side?  It is time for the quilt festival – this is actually the last day to enter.  I was trying so hard to get done with Star Crazy as I wanted to enter it in the festival – and I made it!!

Star Crazy is done   This quilt top was begun 2 1/2 years ago – it was a BOM featured on the Quilt Show, and designed by Sue Garman.  Once a month in the year 2010 I would print out the directions and get busy sewing the blocks for the month.   I decided that I wanted my quilt to be bigger than what the original pattern was and I added a 10 inch cream border all the way around the quilt and I made the corners curved just because I wanted to.

By January of 2011 every thing was pieced and put together.  BUT I already had a quilt on my hand quilting frame so it had to wait, and wait and wait.  It went on the frame December 18, 2011 and I took it off the frame May 18, 2012 – 5 months to the day I had finished the hand quilting.  I have been working with the binding the last several days and here it is the last day to make an entry for the show and I have it finished!

A little over 250 hours of work went into this baby!  120 hours of piecing and 132 hours of hand quilting.  Along with the binding I’m sure I could safely say I have spent 260 hours on this quilt – it will be on my bed now for awhile before it gets switched out – I intend to enjoy it for some time before (if) it gets passed on to anyone else.  Finished measurement is 95 x 95 inches (good thing I made it 100 x 100 to begin with – I think fabric is shrinking more than it used to! good thing I love that antique crinkly look – love it as a matter of fact)

So TaDa – here is my scrappy hand quilted version of Star Crazy:

Forgive all the wrinkles – I had just taken it out of the dryer and got busy taking photos.  I probably did over kill on the quilting in the pieced area, once I got started I had to continue – part way through I had wished I hadn’t decided to do that.  I have lost track of how many queen size quilts I have hand quilted now – this bed sure has seen a change of quilts over the years!

This is the first Monday in forever that I really don’t have much of a progress report for Design Wall Monday – head on over to Judy at Patchwork Times and see what everyone else is working on.

This post is short – I have 2 1/2 sides of the binding on Star Crazy done.  Then I need to wash the quilt and dry it. Then try to get a good photo.

You might see it tomorrow!!  I know some people use clips to turn the edges over on the whole quilt or one side at a time – I turn as I go using about 3 clips usually – works for me – what about you?

Now I need to get back to work – when I finish the binding on  this quilt I will get back to Joseph’s Coat – another month on that quilt and it should be finished too!

Yesterday – Saturday – was a day of no quilting for me – it was a day spent first touring through an art museum in North West Arkansas called Crystal Bridges and then an evening with family celebrating the college graduation of one of my many nieces.  The museum was built by one of the Walton heirs of Wal-Mart fame in Bentonville – the home and area that most of my family lives at is the home of the founders of Wal-Mart.  The museum opened about 6 months ago – I took a fairly quick tour though it with my sister and brother when they visited several weeks ago but not an in depth look.  Mike hadn’t seen it yet so we thought we would go there first, then pick up mom and head out to the barbecue.

One of the many paintings at the museum – I like this grouping of boys eating

this is a zoom in on a portion of a painting – it reminded me of a scene in the movie “Last of the Mohicans” when Hawkeye, his brother and father come upon a homestead of their friend and  family just after sunset and spend the evening with them.  These two photos are just a small sampling of what the museum has to offer.

Then it was on to the family to visit.  Here is the graduate with her cake.  Culea  (I think my sister found this name in a romance novel or something it is pronounced Ka-Lee) has a degree in elementary education – she was recruited by a school in South Western Alaska and will be teaching for a year at a remote Alaskan village called Alakanuk.  She is so excited about going on this new adventure in her life – we all wish her well and hope she enjoys it.  She barely looks old enough to be a teacher now and a college graduate – but she will be 23 in October – she just looks like she is still in high school!

Now on to getting that binding done this week – maybe make another smaller tote bag from the pattern I used last month, scrap organizing and work on Joseph’s Coat!  It is supposed to be hot all week – I think afternoons will be in the house.

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

Star Crazy came off the frame last night – 5 months after it went on the frame – the fastest I have quilted a large quilt.  132 hours of quilting,  estimated piecing time was 120 hours – that’s about 250 hours spent on this quilt so far and there is still the binding to do!

Looks like it is time to clean out and organize under the frame again while I can see under it.

A little teaser for you – half of the quilt – needs binding and then washing and I will show it to you completely done – sometime next week most likely.

A little of the backing.

The binding is the same aqua that is on the front of the quilt in the sashing.  I had this cut and put aside waiting for it.  This is a Hoffman water color Bali batik – I’m not sure what that little note was that is in the bag, I will have to check that out I think it was telling me how much the background fabric was – I like to total up cost of the quilt when I get done -

Does it ever feel good to have a finish!!  Wow do my quilting fingers need a break – ouch fingertips are sore from this marathon quilting the past couple of days.  It took 5 hours to do that last border.

Quilt group this morning, then exercise.  I will then come home and get to work on the binding.  I am bringing Joseph’s Coat with me this morning to piece but I think it will be a little neglected this upcoming week while I work on binding.

Ok, what have I been doing today – working my fingers to the bone trying to finish Star Crazy – I just plain want to get it done!  Almost there – another hour or two and it will be done – maybe more work later? Maybe tomorrow? This much left to do Right now I need to take a break!

This much done since yesterday morning –

I did take a long break earlier today and finished reading Stolen Prey started about 36 hours ago — I told you when I get into a good book, I can’t put it down.  Although I did put it down for a little bit this morning while I was out on the porch taking a break from quilting to take some photos of this little guy.

My ferns have a water reservoir in the bottom of the pot – it always attracts tree frogs.  They practically live in it the whole summer.  I love listening to them crooking noises.