Clamshell Club - September 2010

I made good progress during September.  I started the month just trying to finish cutting out the clamshells.  At some point I realized I didn’t have enough red fabric (I had more yardage of green and cream and had just small amounts of the different red fabrics).  So I found more.  I still am not exactly sure how many clamshells I will need for a throw size quilt, but I’m thinking several hundred, and I’m pretty certain I have enough cut out. 

Last weekend I was with the ladies of my mom’s family at a house in the mountains of North Carolina .  I started on some more basting.  Not wanting to set up the ironing board or mess with glue, I decided to try that nasty thread basting technique.  Wonder of wonders, I actually enjoy it!  Here’s my stack of thread basted clamshells, just from the weekend and car trip back home.  There are 112 of them.

I’m trying really hard not to work on the clamshells at home, since they are supposed to be a travel project (and since I have lots of other projects to sew at home).  It’s hard, but I will be good.  This weekend starts our fall of traveling.  I’m not sure there will be much/any sewing since I have a library book I need to finish.  But I think by next weekend I’ll be done and ready to dive back in.  Teehee.

An Ocean Odyssey

It's finished.  What I've been calling the crab quilt.  It measures approximately 36"x42" and was made for our friends who own and operate a seafood restaurant and are expecting a baby this fall. 

I attached the binding incorrectly, so as I was hand-stitching it I had to rip out and redo all the corners by hand.  That'll teach me to rush. 

The main fabrics are "By the Sea" by Johnny Karwan for Clothworks.  The plaid I used for the binding is a designer fabric fabric from JoAnn - the blues and greens matched perfectly. 

Close up of the quilting - I used a horizontal continuous line pattern that looked to me like water, and of course I had to quilt a VT into one corner.

The quilt's off in the mail now, since I won't be able to make the shower - I hope it gets lots of love and use!

What I was doing this weekend . . .

The women of my mom's family all joined up at a house in the mountains of western North Carolina last weekend.  This is how I spent most of my time around the house:

 

I was trying to finish up a project, and once I did, I moved on to another:

I'm on the right, with my cousin and my aunt on the deck.

 

Don't worry, we did some shopping and touring as well!

I even found some fabric, but I don't have pics of it yet. ;)

I'm Still Here!

Just busy.  Lots of life happening.  Let’s see . . . Kiddo had some sinus/allergy head cold last week, this week I had the same thing. 

 

I got all the rest of the fabric for my clamshell quilt – I actually had tons of cream and green and not enough red.  Extra clamshells will be made into another little project once I’m done with the throw quilt.

 

I worked on organizing my patterns by type (and weeding out ones I don’t want anymore to sell).  I started an Excel sheet to keep track of them and help avoid double purchases (it doesn’t happen often, but it has happened in the past), so I’ve been working on that.

I got the crab quilt basted, marked, and finished quilting it last night.  I should finish up attaching the binding by machine this evening, and I'll hand stitch it in the car tomorrow. 

I cut out two little fleece baby hats from leftover Celtics and Patriots fabric.  I’m hoping to get them sewn up early next week.

 

This weekend is a ladies’ weekend with women from my mom’s side of the family.  It will be the first time I’ve been away and having fun by myself since Kiddo was born (and he’s almost a year old).  We are just going to hang out and work on crafty projects, so I am taking: the crab quilt to bind, clamshells to work on, and the fabric for the guest room quilt to cut for my next leader-ender project.  Plus a couple of romance novels for when I’m tired of fabric . . .

 

Lots of other things going on (including a butt-load of new and continuing projects), but that’s for another post. :-)

Keep on swimming, keep on swimming

As I was sewing the crab quilt top together this week, I wound up at the bottom of my leader-ender pile.  So I had to dig into the project tub and get the other squares out.  I was so happy to be on the last bit of component piecing.  Since then, I've finished all those and have started making up the little four patches that will become 16-patches.

Once I finish this leader-ender project, I’ll have to figure out another one!  I have several possibilities from which to choose.  *I thought I'd use the proper grammar to make my English-teacher Mom happy.*  

The crab quilt top is finished, the bias binding cut and pressed (I hope I have enough - there's extra fabric if I need to make more), and the back components are pieced.  I'm hoping to get the back pieced this evening.

I found that I had the perfect baby/toddler hat pattern in my stash, so I cut out the needed pieces and will be sewing a couple up with the leftover Patriots and Celtics fleece scraps after I finish piecing the crab quilt.  I ordered the stencil, but it's not here yet, so the actual quilting will have to wait.  Please hurry stencil, I'm working against a deadline here!

WIP

Blocks finished, squared up, sorted, and in the process of becoming a top . . .

Pats & Celts

These are for some soon-to-be new members of our family (not immediate family - I'm not making that kind of announcement, I promise!).  The parents are big Patriots and Celtics fans, so Hubby thought it would be a good idea to make a blanket and burp cloth for each team.

I have an extra fleece blanket for each team - a yard makes two, at about 29"x30-couple" or so with rounded corners.  I made a Hokies one for my son when he was born, and they are the perfect size for snuggling up a newborn.

Projects, Anyone?

This pretty much shows what I've got going on at the moment (sewing-wise, that is).  Clamshells, crabs, sports, Farm Gal's Folly, a new project, and taming scraps while I'm at it.  Can you see my head about to pop off from spinning around so fast?!

Wordless Wednesday