Progress is progress..!

In my stitching diary:

I only took one picture on Wednesday of my stitching in progress at Maple Street.  "They" say a picture says a thousand words... 

I wonder if silence speaks louder?

The Starkville Happy Hooper's quilt guild meets on Thursday mornings.  It's an informal guild.  There are no by-laws or business meetings. It's simply a group of quilters that get together for fellowship, encouragement and inspiration!

I captured a small clip of a typical Thursday morning Hooper meeting and posted it to the guild's FB page. I love the buzz of conversation.

This week I worked on the double wedding ring that has been in progress for 20+ years. I've promised it to my son.  I probably should pick up the pace 😝.

And today, at home,

I've finally made it to my machine!

I think "empty nest" hit hard today.  It's Friday and my Sweetling is not coming home for the weekend... I don't have to make sure her favorite foods are in the cupboard. I'm making dinner for two, not three, tonight.  My usual Friday is no longer my usual routine.  I am feeling unbalanced today...

I need to start a baby quilt (because I've decided I'm keeping the Baby Girl stain glass quilt instead of giving to Heartbeat's co-worker,) but am having difficulty concentrating and I can't decide on a pattern.  I went back and forth thinking about it all day.

Realizing that I was getting no where with the back and forth going on, I switched gears. 

The next project at the Wanna Bee quilt group is going to be using the pattern Honeycomb by Karen Griska.  Part of the pattern calls for string piecing.  It's a piecing technique that is pretty much mindless sewing. And finally, after dinner, I grabbed my box of previously prepared "strings,"  sat at my sewing machine and started stitching strings together.

The only thing I had to be mindful of was to not sew the same print side by side.  Otherwise, all I had to do was pick up the next piece, line it up, then zip through the machine, and repeat.

After a couple hours, I had a pretty good pile started.  It's amazing what can be done with a stack of mix-matched fabrics.

Progress is progress no matter how big or small!!  I'll take it 🥰.

"Complimentary Cookie" blog update

I haven't done much crafting over that last week or so.  We moved my youngest to college over the weekend.  She now lives 1,094 miles away (according to Maps.) I couldn't be more proud she has the courage and drive to move onto the next stage of her life.
Now My Heartbeat and I are officially Empty-Nesters. What does that really mean?...  I don't know yet...

This update is more like a "complimentary cookie" type update. I haven't resumed stitching activities yet, but I don't want to go too long without a blog update.

The whole focus of the trip was Sweet's move-in date.  I only have 3 pictures over 5 days that are quilting or craft related.

The night before our flight to NYC, my Heartbeat noticed a quilt shop on our route to dinner.  After dinner, he surprised me by returning to the shop, Fabric for the Flock in Bartlett, TN.
It was 7:04 p.m. when we pulled into the parking lot and the sign on the door said closing time was 7.  But I know sometimes shops stay open if they have a class running so I tried the door. And to my pleasure, the shop owner was happy to let me browse after she heard my story of how I happen to be stopping at her store.
I wish I thought to take more pictures of her shop.  The shop owner, Karla, had several quilts and quilt tops on display.  She told me she supports local designers.  With my Heartbeat and Sweets waiting for me in the car, and the time was already after hours, I didn't feel I had time to see which designs she was talking about.  But I walked through the fabrics and picked out a couple that caught my eye.
Beautiful fabrics by popular designers, bottom to top: Riley Blake Designs Pattern C4152, "The Sweet Life" by Pat Sloan (Moda), and a Tula Pink charm pack!  All just to add to my stash 🥰.

In NYC we had lunch at Fraunce's Tavern. It's one of NYC's oldest standing structures and contains 9 museum galleries! We enjoyed live jazz while we ate our meal then we wandered through the museums.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of the needle work on this 5-star flag. It's just beautiful!

I had knitting to occupy my evenings in the hotel and during the flight back home.

I've been home two full days and have barely stepped into my sewing room.  Today I went to Maple Street charity quilting. Tomorrow I'll attend the Starkville Hooper's quilt guild meeting.  Hopefully, all these talented quilting ladies will inspire me to get working again ☺️.

Quilt is done in the nick of time!

Wish had some stories for you today, but I don't have much!

Sweets is so excited to get the next phase of her life started.  She's completely packed, everything she can think she'll need over the next 3 months. And a list of items that need to be purchased in NYC.   She is a planner. I think she gets that from my Heartbeat.

~~~

The quilt is the last item needing to go into a suitcase.

This morning there were still 7 blocks that needed threads buried.  I had today and tomorrow, then the next day we fly!!

At noon, Sweets and I ran errands.  There were still 5 blocks to do.

By time we got back home, I was feeling the time crunch!  So, I allowed SOME shortcuts 😋.  But only here and there.

The need to get this done today was very strong.

You see, even after I took care of the threads in the back, there were still the threads that get pulled to the front in the quilting process that needed burying too!!

My saving Grace was that most of those ends had longer threads which made it easier to use the needle and make overhand knots. 

Now, at nearly midnight, I can announce that it's time to celebrate!! Because I finally finished it!! With one day to spare (if all goes well.) 

We decided to put it through the laundering test. This is one of the scary parts for me.  I'll be keeping my fingers crossed until it's dried again. 🤞

I forgot to get a pic of my secret ❤️.  I guess I'll get it for my blog tomorrow.

~~~

Alright then! Charity quilting tomorrow at Maple Street!!  Until then, I wish you (and me!) A good night's rest!

Pushing past the wall...

Ahhh, I think I'm hitting the "near the end of my project" wall.  I am aware of this phenomena.  I tried to put it into perspective for myself in my Let go, just do it blog update.

With this project, the closer I get to finishing, time also gets closer to Sweetling moving to NYC for higher education and it's hitting me like a ton of bricks.

I am a crazy mix of emotions.

I'm proud of her. She's worked so hard to get here.

I'm proud of me. I've worked so hard to get her here.

I'm excited to see what upcoming opportunities she'll take advantage of.

I'm nervous. You know, it's a big world out there.

I'm sad. I will no longer know exactly "where, what, who..." at all times.

I'm uncertain and scared. Have I taught her enough to make it out there?

Ughh, too many emotions to identify.

My baby is spreading her wings!!

Every day now, I find myself having to dry my eyes at unexpected times.  And I'm realizing that it's harder to let go than I ever expected!

~~~~~

I had slowed down with the burying threads, there's still 11 blocks to do. And I was letting other things distract me from the task.

I decided a change of pace might be what I needed to continue progress.  So yesterday I made the binding and attached it.

See, still have threads to bury.

And I started turning the binding

The high loft batting makes the job a little challenging. It's so fluffy!

Today, I continued hand turning the binding and took more pictures.

Hand turning the binding means that after attaching the binding to the front of the quilt, it's then folded over the raw edge to the back of the quilt and then hand sewn with needle and thread.  Special care is given so the stitches do not show on the front by traveling the needle in the batting layer only.

I am particular about how the corners are sewn.  I like mitered corners. (It starts with attaching binding. I'm sorry I skipped over this step.)

I carefully fold one side down and pin it in place.

Then fold the other side, tucking the fabric from the first fold close to the crease of the second fold, which causes the diagonal crease.  The folds can be manipulated to line up perfectly.

And a pin holds it all in place.

I stitch to the inside of the diagonal point.

The next stitch grabs the fabric from the other side. And a snug tug locks them together.

Then I start sewing the miter in place so that it won't unfold after the first wash and have a flap of fabric hanging out.

I ladder stitch all the way to the tip.

Then push the needle through to the front side.

And ladder stitch to the inside corner.

Then push the needle to the back side again.

And then continue on until the next corner!

I stitched for several hours today.  I reached the third corner.  I also had to put a heated rice pack on my forearm this evening because I over did it

But I'm gonna push past that wall and get it done!!

(Even if it means being under a quilt in this Mississippi August heat.)

The apple doesn't fall far?

When I walked into the living room this morning this sight made me smile.

Sweets has started weaving a wall hanging for her dorm room.  I can't help but feel pleased that she wants to create with her hands.  I'll take credit for that, it must come from me. 😉

 I've enjoyed watching her progress. I gave a few suggestions and showed a couple of weaving techniques.  But I think she got a lot of ideas from YouTube.

Her tapestry is turning out great!! I guess the apple didn't fall far from this tree.

~~~~~
This morning I was later than usual to Maple Street Charity quilting. And I spent half of my time adjusting tension on a sewing machine that has been tucked away, but we might start to use soon.  Then I laid out some of the wonky blocks. But I didn't have time to start sewing them together.  I believe this top will go together quickly now.

I don't have much to report on Sweetling's quilt.  I took most of the afternoon off from burying threads.  Instead, I watched a couple of shows on TV with Sweets and just enjoyed her company (and her weaving.)
I did dare "do the math" today - figured out a timeline for completion.  I need two days to finish burying threads (13 blocks worth.) And one day to trim the quilt, make binding, and attach it. And at least two days to turn the binding.
So I need at least 5 days to work on it. There's 7 whole days before she's off to school. Phew! There might possibly be enough time for me to breathe!!  But I probably shouldn't take any more time off. 😆

Pins, pins, pins...

According to my photos, I basted Sweetling's quilt on July 25.  I used so many pins that I ran out of mine and had to borrow (take back) pins from Sweets.

Haha, and I still wanted to put more!

I removed the pins as I quilted.

This is the signs of my work from a night of insomnia.

So I continued the pile this morning after a few hours of sleep.

And at the end of this evening, the last quilting stitch had been sewn and the last pin removed!!

Tomorrow is Wednesday, which means charity quilting at Maple Street in the morning.  Then I'll continue burying threads after lunch.  I feel I've gotten much faster at it.  I wonder if it's a reasonable expectation to get that all done by the end of the day. 🤔

Princess Whimsy Hita

Burying threads doesn't use much mental effort.  I've had too much time to think these last two days.  For instance, I've convinced myself that I'm a fairytale princess!!

I'll tell you why...

Yesterday I pricked my finger with the needle.  I considered taking a picture but was too shocked to see that crimson red beaded droplet on the snow white quilt backing. 

And honestly, I also panicked. Afraid that the droplet would soak into the fabric and through the layers and stain the front side of the quilt!

Supposedly, the best way to deal with this catastrophe is with your own saliva.

Yep. That fabric went straight to my lips. And I soaked it with my own spit...

And at first it seemed all I managed to do was spread the stain.

The panic continued!

More saliva.

I grabbed the hem of my shirt and dabbed at the wetness..

Would you believe, the stain started to disappear!

It's not completely gone, but it is not noticable (unless pointed out.). 

Ahh, my heart started beating again.

But soon after I had to lie down and fell into a deep sleep... For like 100 minutes...

(See where this is going? Sounds slightly familiar to a fairytale sleeping princess, right??  She pricked her finger and slept for 100 years, I believe.)

When I woke up around 2 p.m.  The house was empty.  I searched for my Heartbeat and Sweetling.

I found them outside. It had to be the hottest time of the day.  My Heartbeat was helping Sweetling practice riding a bike.  (I know, she says we never taught her. I say she never wanted to learn.  Either way, NOW, at 17 years old, she wants to learn and with one of us by her side... or at least with her)

So!! Do you see?? I was awakened by an act of true love!! My Heartbeat was out in the stifling Mississippi midday heat out of love for our Sweetling!! What could be more true than that??

That's PROOF!! I am a Fairytale Princess!!!

😉 

Hahaha, I told Sweetling my conclusion.  She was amused with my story and says, "oh my goodness, mom" and managed not to roll her eyes at me. 😂

~~~~~

On the quilting side...

I'm quilting from the center of the quilt out to the sides and I've reached a side!!

In order to be sure that the quilting stitch is 1/4" from the binding, I have to mark approximately where the binding seam is going to be.

Then I used that marking to stitch 1/4" inside.

The edge of the foot is about 1/4" from the needle.  That's what I've been using as a guide.

I am very stoked that I've reached a corner.

I'm over half way done!!

I love the way the shadows fall when the light is off.

Ok!! My Prince Heartbeat is on his way home from work. It's time for this Princess Whimsy Hita to think about what's for dinner!!