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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

A well rounded crafter


 I am trying to get the BOM from QuiltDoodles finished for my post of the blog hop due on Saturday.
The deadline is good because I wanted to finish this anyway but it might have become another UFO without the deadline.
With the deadline it has become a REAL challenge. I'm quilting this big quilt in sections with my little domestic machine, as I do. It's wearing me out, pushing and pulling the heavy sandwiches around. This section is more or less quilted
It's about 60 inches by 30 inches, with a heavy flannel backing and 80/20 batt. It is a bed quilt so all choices are made so that it can be washed and dried over the years. It's VERY hard on my shoulders and back.
This is the third and larges section still on the wall, waiting for sandwiching and quilting. It's the middle section. I want the whole thing to be soft and cozy, so I am not over quilting it as I would one of my art quilts. It feels wrong to areas unquilted. More on Saturday's post.
To recover from pushing and pulling this around, I have begun trying to use up my wool stash.

When I learned to knit again as an adult, I fell in love with socks. Then I fell in love with knitting socks on two circular needles, usually two at once...
That's terrific as both are done at the same time. But they get heavy to hold, so I am now doing one sock at a time, on two circular needles. Easy! Fun! I have just finished the back heel here and am ready to turn the heel.

During a fabric reorganization over the holidays, I noticed several bins of sock yarn, and thought, I'll never use up my fabric, but I MIGHT be able to get this wool outta here.

Socks are perfect evening TV watching and car riding projects. Always there and portable.
I finished Mr Not Afraid of Colors first pair, and started these for me. I plan to keep at it til the wool is down to one bin.

I noticed Drew looking at coasters last weekend. When he said he needed one, I reminded him I um, know how to sew.

I located a scrap of flannel with guitars on it, from when I taught my nephew how to make a pillowcase, so I placed that with a black music flannel face to face, and a batting scrap on top. 

Using my 6.5 inch ruler, I trimmed all the way around. Then I stitched all the way around with a slightly larger than quarter inch seam, leaving a three inch area unstitched for turning.

Trim the corners off at a diagonal so when it's turned inside out, the batting is sandwiched and the seams are all finished except for the turning area. Tuck those edges in, sew along the edge catching that, then quilt.
Voila!

This was a great little break from the quilting project. Fast and useful.
He was so happy to see it by his chair!! Socks! Coasters! (Relax, Drew, I won't be making you a patchwork vest) (I have a quilt to finish by Saturday!)
LeeAnna

12 comments:

  1. I'm glad you are getting it done, but please do be careful. Take lots of breaks to stretch.

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  2. Your quilt will be so pretty. Looking forward to seeing it finished. You're so brave to quilt it yourself. I just handed over two quilts to a friend with a long-arm machine.

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  3. From head to toe! A great well rounded crafter indeed!
    Looks great LeeAnna! That's one huge and heavy quilt! Be carefull! Deadline's are great but your health comes first!
    What a warm and toasty treat! Socks and a coaster!
    Take care,
    Joanne

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  4. Really lovely work! Thanks for stopping by our blog :)

    Purrs xx
    Athena and Marie

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  5. They are all so colorful. So many fun projects. I'm glad you have something to rest from wrestling. I'm in the same place quilting and it is tough... but hopefully, worthwhile.

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  6. Flannel! that is a fabric i like in my shirts and not so nearly much to hand tie in a comforter! i agreed to make 4 of them, huge ones 80' plus on any given side,Oye! ,what was i thinking?? luckily i have my 4x8 foot painting table outside to pin baste them up on, and tie every couple inches...
    your colorful quit is festive and colorful and next winter you will enjoy it even more, without aches and pains of the mechanics . oh the sox, adorable. you have many talents!

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  7. Oh I love when my mom knits me sock...Mr. will love them!!! You quilt is coming together great too!

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  8. Your quilt is looking good and not too far to go. And socks! I love your yarn and knitting sounds like great way to take a break.

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  9. Not only are you a well-rounded crafter but you are a dedicated one. Machine quilting big quilts and meeting deadlines is hard work!

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  10. The guitar fabric made a really nice coaster, didn't it? I love flannel backings - and soft corduroy - and quality minky - :D They're just so comforting. But yeah, on my regular ol' domestic machine, they can be a workout! It's fun to see you finishing this BOM quilt - it's one that I was sorely tempted to jump in on, but just never could.

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  11. coasters are always so much fun and great gifts too :) Lucy www.crazyforpurple.com

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