Quilty Pleasures: Make-A-List Monday

Make-A-List Monday

The Week of November 5, 2012

(in review)

1. Complete the folded fabric table mat I started at The Village Quilter.

I learned a lot making this folded table mat. I made a few mistakes as you can probably see when you look at the picture. I want to make another one soon while the process is still fresh in my mind. It is supposed to be bigger than this but because of a few mistakes I had to cut it down. It is not lopsided even though it looks that way in the picture. (well, maybe a little ;D)

2. Finish quilting the top that is currently on Annie.

I made another School of Fish quilt with the leftover fabric from Ryder's quilt. It is basically the same but with a different inner and outer border.

3. Continue Working on the Heather Spence Mystery Quilt.

We received the final clue on Friday. I was able to finish piecing the top. I decided to change the pattern a little with Heather's permission.

This is the original pattern made by Libby Duncan. Although beautiful, I just wanted to try something a little different. I hope to make another quilt in the near future with this original pattern.

It is hard to believe that these two quilts were made with the exact same blocks...just turned a different way.

4. Finish choosing and preparing fabric for my Christmas Hexagon Quilt.

Here are all my 2" squares ready to be English Paper-Pieced into my Hexagon quilt. There are almost 5000 of them!

As mentioned in an earlier post dated October 22, 2012, my Christmas Hexagon quilt is from a pattern by Bonnie K. Hunter. Bonnie's Hexagon Medallion quilt was started in 1999 when her grandmother was ill and she needed a "carry-along" project when traveling from Idaho to Arizona.

Bonnie has given the following permission to use her patterns on her website Quiltville.com:

"*Note* You may print the patterns from this website for your own use! Feel free to share them with your friends. I encourage you to use the patterns to teach a class, make quilts to sell, to donate to charity and exhibit in your guild quilt shows! However, just because the patterns here are free for your use, does not mean you can use them with the intent to sell the patterns themselves. Please respect copyright policy and keep the pieceful spirit of quilting alive and well!"

Bonnie is so giving and kind to share so many of her patterns with her fellow quilters. She has even been helpful to me in answering some of my questions as I attempt to replicate this gorgeous pattern.

I will continue to post my progress as I work through this project.

5. Continue to work on the pieced border for the 2011 NJ Shop Hop quilt as a Leader/Ender project.

My pieced border will have 48 five-inch finished pinwheels. Here are a few of them. They will be made with similar colors in the quilt.

6. Continue to gather fabric for the new Quiltville mystery quilt called Easy Street by Bonnie K. Hunter.

I have gathered all the fabric I will need for Bonnie's new mystery. The first clue will be released on Friday, November 23, 2012.

I had plenty of lime green and purple. I only had a little turquoise and black on white. I had to purchase more of each of those colors and some gray.

7. Make labels for 6 quilts that are in need.

Making labels is not one of my favorite things to do but I am happy to report that these 6 labels are done.

8. Make some Christmas napkins.

Unfortunately I ran out of time for this project but I should be able to get to it this week. The fabric has been pre-washed and it is ready to go. I just need to cut out the squares and sew them together.

9. Attend Quilts for Kids at PQW.

I finished the Christmas quilt but did not turn it in since I still needed to wash it.

I used a Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas fabric for the backing.

10..Attend Saturday Sampler at PQW. Saturday Sampler class at PQW is offered on Thursday afternoon/evening or all day Friday or Saturday. I usually attend on Friday morning. This past Friday we were scheduled for a refrigerator repair. Because of this, I attended the Thursday 4PM class. Before class I stumbled upon the The Tomato Factory Antiques in Hopewell, NJ.

As I was browsing the store I stumbled upon a Featherweight sewing machine.

It was manufactured on February 27, 1956. I have wanted one for a long time and I couldn't believe my fortune in finding one in such good shape at such a reasonable price. This is a picture of one made at the same time as the one I purchased. Mine is in equally good condition. I brought her home and did a little cleaning but she didn't need much. Her original case did not even have an odor which is typical of featherweights.

On Saturday I dropped her at the sewing machine spa (AKA - Pennington Quilt Works). She will be ready for me to pick her up on Wednesday. She will be freshly oiled and lubricated with a new belt and tension adjusted. She is definitely well rested as her previous owner, Simone Raymond, said she had not sewn on her in 30 years.

I can't wait to bring her home. I will post a picture next week. Now to think of a name.....

11. RYDER TIME!!!

12. Attend my friend's surprise 50th birthday party.

The party was so much fun and I think Bob was truly surprised. The party had a tailgating theme and the decorations and food were amazing.

Happy Birthday, Bob!

The Week of November 12, 2012

1. Pick up my "new-to-me" featherweight from the sewing machine spa.

2. Finish quilting the quilt that is currently on Annie. I have a quilt that will be a Christmas present on Annie now.

3. Prepare the backing for my Heather Spence mystery quilt.

4. Start working on my Christmas Hexagon quilt.

5. Make the Christmas napkins that I didn't get to last week.

6. Ryder Time! I get to see Ryder two days this week. Lucky me!

7. Start baking Christmas cookies. I always bake my cookies ahead and freeze them. It makes the week before the holiday a little less hectic.

8. Make my November block for the Quilt Square Quilt Along sponsored by Jo Kramer of Jo's Country Junction.

9. Plan the quilt I will make for Quilts for Kids in December.

10. Make the December block for PQW Saturday Sampler.

11. Work on a few blocks from the Just Takes 2 quilt project. I haven't worked on this for a while so it will be great to get a few more blocks done.

12. Catch up on the blocks I am doing for The Village Quilter Building Blocks Block of the Month program.