Goals and To-do's ---- September 16 Edition

Most of my sewing lately has been for commissions, but Christmas is coming so it's time to start on gifts in addition to all of the paying work I've been doing lately.  And to k

Goals for this week -

1. Quilt the bottom half of the T-shirt quilt
2. Make memory bear #3
3. Make RB pillow #1
4. Complete alterations (Items #6 & 7)

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Current commissions-

1. T-Shirt Quilt (due at end of Sept) - Top is together, ready to start quilting.
2. Wedding Dress Pillow (no due date) - Finished!!!!
3. Ring Bearer Pillows (no due date) - Cutting fabric for 1st pillow in process
4. Blouse (4) and Jeans Alterations - Finished and Delivered!
5. Memory Teddy Bears from button-down shirts (12 of them) - 2 of 12 bears are done
6. Alterations - 7 pairs of pants (hems and waist band) - Clothes are on hand
7. Alteration - Blouse to take up - Blouse is on hand 

Christmas gifts -

1. Pillowcase(s) for triangle support pillow for PN
2. Pillowcase set for HM
3. Pillowcase set for MM
4. Embellished top for MM
5. Mini wall-hanging for RD (Coffee panel)
6. Mini wall-hanging for SR

Coming Commissions-

1. T-shirt Quilt for friend in an online group (no due date, waiting for shirts and specs)
2. T-shirt quilt for a friend at church (waiting for shirts, specs)
3. Men's Shirt alterations (multiple, not sure how many at this point) - 

Possible Commissions -

1. Airplane quilt - need to make sample blocks before getting back with friend to see if she's interested (most likely for Christmas if she decides to do it)
2. Music Quilt - long time possibility....rumblings about it happening again - Designed, waiting on down payment
3. 2 "Floor" mats - 24" by 18" size, same person as #2 rumbling about these, time will tell if they happen - Designed, waiting on down payment from customer
4. Enhanced tote w/pockets - cats #1 - Designed, Need to find fabric to show customer
5. Enhanced tote w/pockets - cats #2 - Designed, Need to find fabric to show customer
6. Enhanced tote w/pockets - dachshunds - Designed, Need to find fabric to show customer

Other projects that need to be done -

1. Final snail block onto the wide backing for snail quilt so I can use it as a label
2. Sort through bag of fabric that was given to me and deal with appropriately
3. Additional work for the PT job - Ongoing work......thankfully
4. Finish 4 UFO's that will be headed to the kids of a family who lost everything in a forest fire in CA - three of four quilted and ready for binding, backing pulled for the remaining one

Gratitudes:

1. For the blessing of the paying work that forces me to be wise with my time management and planning.

2. For sale prices at the grocery store which mean I can eat better than my budget normally would allow for these days.

T-Shirt Quilt Progress

My  #OneThingWithAmy goal last week was to get the top for the commissioned t-shirt quilt together.   It was together as of about 7:30 last night.

 Here's the top half of the quilt.  I'll be quilting it in two sections and then joining the halves together to make it easier to handle.



















Bottom half.

And yes when joined, there will be a large white circle in the center of the quilt in a nod to all of the  Target t-shirts that were used to make the quilt.

My goal for this week is to get the bottom half quilted.



Gratitudes:

1. For safety in all of the driving I did over the weekend.

2. For having a job, even if I'm not being paid at the present time.

Memory Bears, Part 1

One of the ongoing commissions that I'm working on at the present time is making Teddy Bears out of men's shirts.   The shirts had been worn by the FIL of my adopted niece before his death just a couple of months ago.

So far I've completed two of them.  And I'll be working to make at least one a week between now and Thanksgiving to get them all done on time. 

At least two other projects will be forthcoming from the leftover bits of the shirts as I can get them worked on.

Gratitudes:

1. For my church family and the blessings of friendships there.

2. For the knowledge that fall and cooler weather will eventually be coming.

Scrap Happy September

Most of the month has been spent in working on commissioned projects and making progress on a lot of different things.     I did get to sew with a few of my scraps as I worked on a few quilted postcards for sale.

 First up were some birthday themed postcards with kitty themes.  One of these has already been sold.

 Next up was some Thanksgiving themed postcards. 

Final postcard for the week is this birthday themed postcard.

All trims, silk flowers, ribbons and all other embellishments were from my stash, all fabrics used were scraps.


Gratitudes:

1. for the commissions that I received today (alterations, not my favorite thing, but money is money....lol) and the possibility of a coming commissioned quilt.

2. for the friends at church who have blessed me with financial gifts in the last month or so as I've struggled with not getting any pay.

Weekend Progress

Had a busy but fruitful weekend as I worked on a multitude of projects this past weekend.

First up was finishing up some commissioned alterations - repaired a t-shirt, hemmed a pair of jeans and shortened a pair of curtain panels.  And then delivered them back to my friends at church on Sunday.

Next up was sewing the first memory bear together.   It's now ready for stuffing.

Then I finished up the tote bag sample.  This is the back, with two lined pockets.

 Front of bag with a button / loop closure if the user wants to close the top of the tote.
















Inside of the tote - Lined in a zebra print cotton, and another two pockets inside to match the ones on the outside. 


Specs of the tote:

Focus print - Zebra print outdoor fabric by Waverly
Lining - Zebra stripe cotton print
Handles - Cotton belting
Pockets - Black Kona cotton
Pellon interfacing (the 99 cent stuff) was used to give a little more body to the lining fabric

And I got all of the t-shirts and sashing cut for the commissioned quilt.   There are three sizes of blocks - 15" square, 8" tall by 15" wide, and 8" square.  The 8" will be sewn together in 4 patches to make a 15" square.   Sewing these together will start this coming week.

Gratitudes:

1. For all of the blessings in my life that are sometimes hard to see because of the difficulties

2. For the knowledge that cooler weather is coming at some point.

September - One Monthly Goal

Running late with my one monthly goal for September.....but here it is anyway.....I need to finish the commissioned t-shirt quilt by the end of the month.   That is totally finished from making the top to getting it quilted and bound.

Currently the shirts are prepped and ready to sew together.....



Gratitudes:
1. The fellowship of good friends

2. The hope of submitted resumes

Labor Day Weekend Wrap-up

Lots of sewing was going on on Sunday and Monday of the long weekend.

6  kitty themed postcards were made so a friend could choose the one she liked best (she'd commissioned one from me). 

Scraps were used for all the fabrics.  Assorted trims and silk flowers were from my stash.

The card on the right is the one my friend chose.

Two pillows were made from the legs of a pair of fleece pants.  (commissioned)

And Progress has been made on the commissioned t-shirt quilt.  All full size blocks (15" square, 20 of them) have been prepped and cut to size.

These two piles are what still need to be prepped - 12 half blocks, and 14 quarter blocks, or 8 quarter and 4 half blocks - depends on motif sizes.

Gratitudes:

1. For the commissions and alterations that continue to come in.

2. For having a stash of completed items that I can pull from when someone wants to buy something.

Labor Day Weekend -- Saturday

The long Labor Day holiday weekend is here and with it comes extra time for me to sew.   Not having money to run around and do things helps with that as well....lol......

At any rate on the first day of my sewing weekend I was able to finish the following up -

 The commissioned wedding dress pillow is complete.   It is cut and sewn square, (well as square as I could get it at any rate), so I'm not sure why that top right corner sits lower than the left.

This was made with the bodice used as is, just seamed across top and bottom.

 Back of the pillow with the dress zipper left in to be able to open/close the pillow.

The skirt and lace from the sleeves will be used to make ring bearer pillows.

More postcards were made - 5 birthday cards, 3 for the fall, a patriotic one, a winter one, and one in honor of my friends who like flamingos.


Three assorted cards here, I think my fav of this assortment is the one with the flamingo charm used on it.

Still trying to figure out what color thread to use for the balloon strings.   Final color used was a light grey which looks ok when holding the card, but doesn't photograph well.

the striped back is on the patriotic one, quilt labels were used for the backs of all the other cards.


Gratitudes:

1. More than 6 hrs of wonderful rain yesterday and lovely cool temps to go with it.

2. For the one paycheck that we got this week which means I can pay my bills the first part of the month without a problem.