To-do's Week of Oct 28th

Lots of work on assorted commissions in the works, but guess who isn't managing to stay out of trouble.

Goals for this week -

1. Complete memory bear #5 - Finished!
2. Complete memory bear #6 - Finished!
3. Complete memory bear #7  
4. Complete memory bear #8
5. Add Zipper panel to top of Zebra tote (sample)
6. Prep Peltex for Christmas postcards - Finished!
7. Make a dozen Christmas postcards for shop - Finished and Delivered!
8. Complete second round of Christmas postcards for the shop - In progress

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Current commissions-

1. Memory Teddy Bears from button-down shirts (12 of them) - 6 of 12 bears are done
2. Cherry Pie Potholders - 2 - Finished and Delivered!
3. Blueberry Pie Potholders - 2 - Finished and Delivered!
4. Postcards for sale as I can make them - More in Process 
5. Enhanced tote w/pockets - cats - Designed, fabric approved, need to pull coordinates
6. Enhanced tote w/pockets - dachshunds - Designed, fabric approved, need to pull coordinates
7. Set of four custom postcards - Have design ready to make pattern from

Christmas gifts -

1. Pillowcase(s) for triangle support pillow for PN
2. Pillowcase set for HM - Fabric in hand, need coordinate
3. Pillowcase set for MM - Finished!
4. Embellished blouse for MM
5. Mini wall-hanging for RD (Coffee panel) - Now where did I put that panel?
6. Mini wall-hanging for SR - Need to find where i stashed pattern

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 (no due date, waiting for shirts, specs)
3. Men's Shirt alterations (multiple, not sure how many at this point) 
4. Hem dress for wife of #3

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. Applique work on costume for Renaissance fair - Waiting on payment and costume from customer

Other projects that need to be done -

1. Ship snail quilt out for quilting - Ready to ship, but have to wait till I get paid again 
2. Donate garbage bag of fabric - Need to load into car to go to Goodwill
3. Go thru the two boxes of books that need to go to second hand store and document what is there before donating
4. Purchase more of the Pellon 71F when sale goes off (use a coupon)
5. Additional work for the PT job - Ongoing work......thankfully
6. 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
7. Prep t-shirts for my own t-shirt quilt - t-shirts are all together (and have been for several yrs) but need to back with interfacing and get ready for quilting (doing quilt as you go).

Gratitudes:

1. For the friendship over the years that I knew BL, and praise for knowing where he is after his home-going this past week.

2. For being able to work from home at least part of the time during the week

Weekend Completions - Oct 28th

Lots of stuff going on this past weekend.

Out with a friend to visit a small group member who is in a nursing home Saturday morning, and then a hoedown themed church potluck round Saturday night.

I was able to make quite a bit of progress with the commissions and sewing for $$ that are on my plate these days.

I finished up the fronts of several different Christmas postcards for sale.  One of which was this Santa pattern - got three made of him.  The last two I put the words at the top where they could be read.

Memory bears #5 and 6 were finished up.   Halfway done with them now.

I hate wasting things when they can still be used (yes that's why I have so many scraps) and just had to find a use for the front plackets leftover from cutting the memory bears out.  This memory pillow was the result. 

The remaining pieced blocks for the commissioned basketball quilt were pieced and ready to be trimmed to 10.5" unfinished.

This little pincushion was made from a few fairy frost scraps for the top and then a solid on the back.  The flamingo is a button that I'd found yrs ago and meant to send to a friend.   The pin cushion will be going in the mail this week to the friend.

Gratitudes:
1. For the "easy-going" 24 hrs of rain that we had this past Friday instead of the really bad thunderstorms the week before.

2. For the time of fellowship with church friends at the Sat. nite hoedown.

To-Do's, wk of 10/20

Lots of work on assorted commissions happening at the present time.......one way to keep me out of trouble (well sorta at any rate).

Goals for this week -

1. Finish borders, label and binding for the t-shirt quilt - Finished!
2. Deliver t-shirt quilt - Finished and Delivered!
3. Make postcards for Pastor Appreciation month/church - Finished and Delivered!
4. Complete memory bear #5 - Sewn, need to stuff and finish
5. Complete memory bear #6 - In Progress
6. Complete memory bear #7 - 
7. Prep fabrics and batting for the fruit pie potholder commission - Finished!
8. Ship snail quilt out for quilting
9. Add Zipper panel to top of Zebra tote (sample)
10. Prep Peltex for Christmas postcards - Finished!
11. Make a dozen Christmas postcards for shop - Finished and Delivered!
12. Complete second round of Christmas postcards for the shop - In progress

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Current commissions-

1. Memory Teddy Bears from button-down shirts (12 of them) - 4 of 12 bears are done
2. Cherry Pie Potholders - 2 - Finished and Delivered!
3. Blueberry Pie Potholders - 2 - Finished and Delivered!
4. Postcards for sale as I can make them - More in Process 
5. Enhanced tote w/pockets - cats - Designed, fabric approved
6. Enhanced tote w/pockets - dachshunds - Designed, fabric approved
7. Set of four custom postcards - Have designed ready to make pattern from

Christmas gifts -

1. Pillowcase(s) for triangle support pillow for PN
2. Pillowcase set for HM
3. Pillowcase set for MM - Process 
4. Embellished blouse 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 (no due date, 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. Applique work on costume for Renaissance fair

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 - Done 
2. Sort through bag of fabric that was given to me and deal with appropriately - Done but need to take to Goodwill
3. Go thru the two boxes of books that need to go to second hand store and document what is there before donating
4. Additional work for the PT job - Ongoing work......thankfully
5. 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
6. Prep t-shirts for my own t-shirt quilt - t-shirts are all together (and have been for several yrs) but need to back with interfacing and get ready for quilting (doing quilt as you go).

Gratitudes:

1. For the blessings in my life no matter where things stand with paychecks

2. For being able to reserve the same place I did last vacation.

Finished Commission

Finished the t-shirt quilt and delivered it last week....woohoo...... 

This pic was taken at work where it was being held up by two people standing on chairs.   It is a king-size.

Gratitudes:
1. My customer and the actual recipient liked the finished quilt.

2. Seing a "quilt-as-you" quilt for the first time wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.

Commissions in Progress

Work on the current commissioned orders has been progressing.

These potholders have been completed and as of yesterday are in the mail to my friend.

The blocks for the basketball quilt have been started.  Remaining ones still needed are in progress and should be done shortly.

Two more memory bears are in process (1 ready for stuffing, the 2nd in the sewing process).   I hope to get a 3rd one done this week as well.


And from the plackets from the shirts as they are made, this pillow made from the woven plackets is now in progress.

Planned for this week -
1. to totally finish 3 memory bears
2. to complete the pieced blocks (21 blocks) for the basketball quilt and sew the rows together.


Gratitudes:

1. For allergy meds that help open my sinuses so I can breathe while in the office.

2. For not having to fight the traffic snarls caused by the storm damage on the way to work this morning.

Christmas postcards 2019

Christmas is coming and patrons of the salon where my postcards are displayed for sale have been asking when Christmas ones are coming in.  So I've been busy working on that them for a couple of weeks now.  These first ones are now finished and have been delivered to the store for display.

Santa and his reindeer.   The reindeer are from a glittery floral pick from Joann's.  Blue snowflake also started it's "life" as a floral pick.

Santa was repurposed from a decorated box.    Made several using the silk poinsettias.  The two gingerbread postcards were made using gift card ornaments.

Top two have wooden ornaments that I've stitched on and painted.  The Santa hat was the remaining portion of the repurposed box decoration from above.   Silk flowers were used in several of them.

Currently in progress, and waiting for the backs to be added and the edging stitched are these postcards.   And there are at least a couple more designs yet to be stitched.

Fuzzy buds, jingle bells, and silk flowers with button centers for these cards.

Small felt snowmen from Hobby Lobby's Christmas craft goodies.  Snow is cut from fleece scrap leftover from another project.

Silk leaves, buttons, silk poinsettia blossoms from a Christmas garland, and metallic rick-rack are some of the embellishments in these postcards.

Still to come - more Santa faces and Christmas trees.

Gratitudes:

1. For safety in the severe thunderstorms (three rounds in one nite!) that went through the area on Sunday night.

2. For the peace that comes from knowing who holds my friends who are currently in the hospital and on hospice.

Scrap Happy, October 2019

this month I worked with the narrow scraps that I'd picked up sometime ago from a scraps barrel at a local quilt store to make a bunch of 4" by 6" postcards 'blanks'.   

Blues and greens were used for these.

These were pink, orange and red scraps.










Had just a few yellow scraps in the bag and made this postcard for a commission.  The requested theme was something that would work as a thank you card for the speaker at a ladies tea at church.

 The last few bits of  the scraps were used to add borders to these three little panels.  I'l be sending these out as gifts/notes at some point.



Gratitudes:

1.  For no rain today so I could get some more trimming done on one tree in the back yard.

2.  For some extra work from the PT job.

Weekend Work, Oct. 14

Not a lot of sewing time this past weekend because of several activities at church on Saturday and Sunday. 

 Finished these potholders which had been ordered from me.   They'll get into the mail soon.

These postcards were made using little panels from a piece of yardage I found at Walmart and the last of the scraps I've been using to make postcard 'blanks' with.    I'll be sending these out at some point but haven't decided who I'm sending them too.

Next up will be is working on more of the memory bears and starting on the next commissioned quilt.

Gratitudes:
1. The weather has cooled off!

2. For the blessed time of fellowship at the Ladies Tea at church on Saturday.

Weekend Tally, October 7th

Lots of work done over the past weekend.....

The next two memory bears were completed.  The eyes may end up being redone on the blue one since they ended up higher than on the others.   Both of these  were from shirts that had long-sleeves, so had extra buttons from the cuffs.  These buttons were sewn on the bears.

This custom ordered postcard was finished and delivered on Sunday.

A series of 5 postcards were started.  The bottom on each one was from a strip of chicken scratch embroidery that was in a bag of fabric that had been given to me.  The words are from a piece of fabric bought to use in postcards, and the top bands are from a leftover piece of binding.

And on this commissioned quilt I got the backing seams trimmed and sewn down, the remaining three borders sewn on, and the binding on.

I've currently got 1 side of binding sewn down with three more + the label to go.  Planning on delivering it this week.

Not seen - I critter sat all weekend at the house which was fun, but i'm glad to be back to no critters at the present.


Gratitudes:
1. For the cold front that is going thru the area today, the cooler temps are wonderful.

2. For the bargains I found last year at Christmas that will be going into Christmas postcards this year.

To-Do Progress, October

Lots of work on assorted commissions happening at the present time.......one way to keep me out of trouble (well sorta at any rate).

Goals for this week -

1. Finish borders, label and binding for the t-shirt quilt
2. Deliver t-shirt quilt
3. Make ordered custom postcard - Finished and Delivered!
4. Make postcards for Pastor Appreciation month/church
5. Prep memory bear #5
6. Stuff memory bear #3 - Finished!
7. Make and stuff memory bear #4 - Finished!
8. Prep fabrics and batting for the fruit pie potholder commission
9. Sew label for snail quilt down, and press backing fabric - Finished!
10. Ship snail quilt out for quilting
11. Add Zipper panel to top of Zebra tote (sample)
12. Prep Peltex for Christmas postcards
13. Make a dozen Christmas postcards for shop

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Current commissions-

1. T-Shirt Quilt (due at end of Sept) - Top is together and backing has been finished
2. Wedding Dress Pillow (no due date) - Finished and Delivered!
3. Ring Bearer Pillows (no due date) - Finished and Delivered!
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. Alteration - Blouse to take up - Finished and Delivered!
7. Cherry Pie Potholders - 2
8. Blueberry Pie Potholders - 2
9. Postcards for sale as I can make them

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 (no due date, 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 only being 2 checks behind at the present time.

2. For the commissioned work that is continuing to come in

Commission Progress - T-Shirt Quilt

Lots of progress has been made on this critter over the last two weeks.

It is now completely quilted and all 7 rows of the top are sewn together.  I ended up doing a modified "quilt-as-you-go" where I worked with 2-3 rows at a time as I quilted them.

Still to finish on the quilt -
-- Trim the batting and backing fabric to cleanly finish the two joining seams on the back of the quilt.
-- Add the side borders of black Kona
-- Bind and add quilt label
-- Deliver finished quilt.  =)
-- "Collect" my payment from where it was stashed when I was paid before starting the project.

I'm thinking with the success of this one, I may actually start my t-shirt quilt and do it as a quilt as I go.   And may use each block as a chance to practice different filler patterns on my little Kenmore since it is getting easier to do simple free motion work on it these days.

Gratitudes:
1. For the two paychecks that I got last week which will cover all of Oct's bills.

2. For "only" being 3 checks behind at this point.