15 Minute Challenge - July 31

Wow!  Can't believe it's almost July.  Where has the year gone?

I had a decent week this week .. the pressure is on to finish the Liberty quilt by Thursday so I pushed myself to get it done.

Tuesday - nothing
Wednesday - nada
Thursday - added second border
Friday - pieced together backing; made quilt sandwich
Saturday -basted quilt
Sunday - started quilting LQ
Monday - finished quilting LQ; added binding

now I just need to finish tucking in the ends and wash it and I'm done!!  Hooray!  My OD thinks it looks to Christmas like, but I'm giving it anyway.  I asked someone at work and she assured me it will be fine.  Pictures tomorrow after it's all done -- before it's given away.

To see how others have done with the challenge this week, check out Kate's Life in Pieces.

Wordless Wednesday



One World Trade Center
(Ground Zero - 2012)



New York and Lady Liberty

I was in New York this past weekend for an office function.  I wasn't really excited about it (it was feeling a little too much like work), but I ended up having a really good time.  The dinner was really nice and we had fun dancing to the band.

This is the view from our table at dinner.  The tall, well lit building on the left is One World Trade Center (still under construction).

On Saturday, we had reservations to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  I found the tours well worth it.  The only thing is to be really careful when making your reservations.  It was very easy to pick the wrong date ..  I accidentally selected the wrong date and spent two days agonizing over the thought of having to pay twice.  It worked out well (I only paid once) and Saturday was gorgeous. We were on the first boat (ferry) from Manhattan to Liberty Island, which I highly recommend. Spent a couple of hours wandering around and were finished by lunch time.

 Hubby looking out the window waiting for The boat to dock at Ellis Island.

More pictures tomorrow.  I'm too tired to write more tonight.

15 Minute Challenge

I'm joining Kate's 15 minute challenge again this week.  Here's my week.  I sewed/did quilty things 4 out of 7 (though the shopping for batting doesn't really count).

Tuesday - Nothing
Wednesday - Nothing
Thursday - two more blocks
Friday - nothing
Saturday - finished blocks, sashing, unstitched one row
Sunday - finished quilt top
Monday -bought batting for quilt

The days I sewed, I did sew more than 15 minutes but I didn't get 15 minutes in each day.  I'll be out of town starting tomorrow night so the next week doesn't look so good.  However, I have some quilting/crafty goals that I need to accomplish.  So here are the things I want to get done and my projected completion dates.

Liberty Quilt (for which I need to come up with a new name since the mom's name is Liberty) - done by 8/2 (baby shower date).
Pencil cases - 8/14 (or earlier)
Pencil Skirt - 8/8
sewing kit(s) - 8/14 (or earlier or later and just give them away for Christmas -- they were planned for last year but I never got them done)(the same goes for three cowls I was knitting)
bags - 8/14 (or earlier)
diaper cake or motorcycle

Mojo?

So I finished the top for the Liberty Quilt.

 

But now I need to make a couple of decisions.  Do I add another border?  What should I use for the binding?  Initially, I was going to use the striped fabric for the binding.

But I don't like the way it looks next to the quilt. So I thought one of these might work as either the binding or another border.  What do you think?  I was thinking that maybe a solid pink would be the better way to go.

 

And finally, I think I will use this as the backing.

 

This is coming together quite nicely.  I need to get some batting.  I'll probably do that tomorrow night.  Hope to have the quilt finished next weekend.  Actually, it will be after that because I'll be in New York next weekend.

Favorite Things Friday

My favorite this week is actually three favorites.  My grandsons.  Tomorrow is my #1 grandson's birthday -- he turns 4; #2 grandson is 2; and #3 grandson is almost two months old.

Maybe, one day, I'll even have a picture of the three of them together.

To see other favorites, check out Quilting In My Pyjamas.

15 minute challenge

Tuesday - nothing
Wednesday - purchase fabric; cut fabric for baby quilt
Thursday - make two blocks LQ
Friday - make two blocks LQ
Saturday - make 2.5 blocks LQ
Sunday - nada
Monday - zip

Much better this week.   Here are the blocks so far.

To see what everyone else has been up to, check out the 15 minute challenge at Life in Pieces.

Favorite Things Friday

My favorite this week is buying fabric on sale.  I have the hardest time buying full-priced fabric so when I go to any fabric store, whether it's JoAnn's or my LQS, I have to buy the sale fabric.  Just about everything I buy is discounted.  Sometimes I buy fabrics just because they're on sale .. of course, in my head I come up with something I'm going to use the fabric for, but since I'm not sewing or quilting very much, I never seem to use it.  but I will.  Here are some pics of my not-so-great sale fabric purchases:

 I got this to make some sleepy pants (aka pyjamas). 

 

This was to line a diaper bag.

 

This was for the backing for a baby boy quilt.

They were each probably only a couple of dollars each, but if I had saved my money I could have bought some of the nicer fabrics that I really want. 

All the lovely fabrics I bought earlier this week were on sale.  most were $4/yard.  The polka dots were 1/2 price so I think they were $4.50 or $5/yard.  Those were a pretty good buy.  Of course, now in thinking about it, a couple of the fabrics were questionable -- the dinosaurs, the blue stars, and the purple.  Even the ones I got for "out of time", but they were on sale. :)

So anyway, for other favorites, check out Quilting in My Pyjamas.

Update

I know, not much done, but I still want to post a couple of pictures.  Just looking for some positive feedback.

It feels good to just do a little sewing ..

The Liberty Quilt

So I'm hoping that I've got a little mojo back (I'm not sure I ever had it).  I went to Beverly's (like JoAnn's but with more fabric) and got some fabric for a quilt that I'm going to make for my co-worker who's having a baby girl.  

 I'm using the polka dots for the baby quilt using this pattern.  

 

I think I'm going to use these to put the borders on Out of Time.

I also got these two. The blue, because I like stars and I will surely make a baby boy quilt at some time; the purple, because I liked it, though it doesn't really go with anything else.

I got these two fabrics on vacation at a thrift store.  They cost a total of $1.26.  I probably should have spent more time looking through the fabric but I didn't.

I will update my quilt progress tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Katie & Jay!!

 

Image from here.