NOLA Placemats

NOLA Placemats, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Here's the finished placemats just in time for the birthday party. The rainboots are the back and the front of each has a scene from NOLA.

NOLA Placemats, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

NOLA Placemats, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

NOLA Placemats, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

NOLA Placemats, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Holy Scraps

Holy Scraps, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

In a search for backing fabric last week, I found a bag of scraps. And a box of scraps. So I got out the bins for sorting. I now have 3 bins of blue scraps and could probably make a dozen quilts just from these bits.

As ever, it's nice to see all the pieces of former projects.

Really Good at Math

White Stack, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I am, as the title of this post suggests, good at math. Ask my mother. Mom, you can comment directly on the blog instead of emailing me if you want to back me up on this one.

So with my math skills and my rotary cutter, I misjudged the number of squares one might need from the rolls of fabric and I know have enough 3 inch squares (in pairs) for a 70 x 85 inch quilt

AND

a 40 x 63 inch quilt

AND

a 28 x 18 doll quilt

at minimum, since I suspect the number of squares out in the sewing room will have doubled by the time I get out of work tomorrow.

I also found the rest of the backing flannel for the Whirlygiggle II, which is another showcase of my math skills because for the last two weeks, I thought I was short a bit. Nope, I have close to a yard remaining. Not counting the big scraps. Ah well, if I don't get 6 yards to back a quilt (even a baby quilt) I'm sure to run out.

Fair and Square

Fair and Square, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I didn't mean to finish this quilt top (apparently held up by a very tall robot) so quickly but when the instructions are great and the green squares were already cut, things move fast. I won the squares in a giveaway from Amanda Jean of crazy mom quilts in August but since it arrived during the big deadline push, I only managed to get some Kona khaki for the sashing and tucked it away (but in a pretty gold box so the sparkles would call me back). This weekend I decided to get some of my projects moving so I listed eight that I want to get done for various deadlines this year and resolved to work on them all a little bit each week. This week for the Fair and Square, I wanted to cut the sashing strips. Check.

To be honest, if I had the right color thread, I'd be out there quilting it right now. Thanks to my flannel stashing powers I have enough of a green flannel to back this.

Striped Binding

Striped Binding , originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Here's a roll of binding for one of my gift type projects. I do like a happy striped binding although I've long since given up trying to match up the stripes when I'm sewing the strips together.

With all the projects I've got in line, I think I'll be able to put together the coin quilt from leftover binding bits.

Grandpa's Quilt

Grandpa's Quilt, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Bound, labeled and properly crinkled in the washer. I'll post a few more pictures of it and other projects that moved forward this weekend.

Pillowcases for the Orphans

Pillowcases, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

So I just hired a gal with the agreement that we'll giver her a few months off to go to Kenya to take care of orphans every couple of months. She gave a lovely presentation at lunch one day to give everyone an idea of why she's called to do this. It inspired us to turn the lunch room into a sweat shop* for pillowcases for the kids at the home. So I brought in a bunch of fabric (lots from Annette, thank you!!!!!!!) and an extra sewing machine, rotary cutter, mats, pins, etc. We started a regular little assembly line and completed 28 pillowcases in time for her next trip. We got in a new influx of fabric for the last week but were slowed down a bit by the supervisor's table. Lots got really involved although some of the guys wanted to be clear they were not sewing so referred to whomever was rotary cutting the fabric as "The Architect".

We'll put together a few more to send with another staff member who is going for a short volunteer stint in a few months.


* The sweat shop did not use forced labor (much) and was freezing most days due to a huge HVAC project that's going on in the building.


**  I'll try to put up a replacement picture when they are delivered.

Rolls of Strips

3 inch strips, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I'm using up some extra strips of fabric on a little (well, that depends on how many squares this ends up making) project. I'm still binding away on my grandpa's quilt this weekend as well.

According to my handy dandy Excel tracking sheet, I will need to finish a quilt every 5 days in order to finish all the quilts I have planned before the end of the year. Not holding my breath on that one. Some are presents though so I'll finish out the year with pictures of previously done quilts mostly. Or you know, pictures of my shelves of pretty folded fabric.

Before and After

Before, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I don't know if it's been obvious but I do get sidetracked easily. Last night I ran across this blog, Sew Fantastic, which has a great idea for storing my shelves of teetering fabric (let's be clear that it's the fabric that teeters, not the shelves which are bolted to the wall (thanks Chuck!)). Warning though, it's one of those sites that plays music so you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to turn it off . . . every page. At any rate, the idea for using comic book boards is delightful and I happen to have a store that carries them just a few miles away (and a friend willing to move her car on Street Fair weekend) so we came home with two sizes.

And voila, my new, non tumbling, non hiding other fabric, blue shelf. Added bonus, all my blues will now fit on the same shelf.

After, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I just need to get the smaller bits to wrap the fat quarters around. Oh and a zillion more boards but at least they are inexpensive.

After Blue, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I also finished the quilting on both the new project and grandpa's quilt. Hands, get ready for some binding!

PS If anyone needs any of that blue dragonfly fabric, just let me know. I'm a sharer.

New project

New project, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

While waiting for the thread to finish my grandpa's quilt, I sorted a bit of stuff in the sewing room and started donating stuff. And hey, while I'm at it, why not start something new? I started loading this project before work, pieced together the batting and was ready to start quilting tonight. So wouldn't you know it, the thread showed up at my door this afternoon. Thanks FedEx but could you have put that on your website maybe?

Anyway, the backing is fantastic and perfect for the intended recipient of this little project. It's a great pantograph of New Orleans which I ran across not long after going to Jazz Fest there. I'm just hoping that you don't have to know exactly what it is before you can see the pictures.