No Pictures Yet

I was not as successful sewing this holiday weekend as I would have liked. I worked a lot, but did not reach my goals. I finished the second American Girl trench coat about five minutes ago.  I had hoped to complete both trench coats over the weekend *and* start quilting Ann's quilt. Didn't quite make it.  Didn't take any pictures yet, either.

Eh, it's OK.

Eight items completed, and I'd like to make 2 more. Maybe even more...but only because the pieces I've made so far don't coordinate into nice outfits.

Over the weekend, I played with my quilt guild charity quilts supplies - a guild member, D, wanted a few quilts to work on, and I prepared them for her. The tops and backs on many quilts were already paired (I had received them as such in May or June) and I picked out three projects for D. One of them was a kids quilt. When I went to package up the kids quilt top, batting and back, I was dismayed at the backing fabric. It was awful - thin, poor quality fabric in an outdated and cheap-looking kids print. I couldn't allow that! I threw that fabric away and pieced another back for the top.

Yeah, no wonder I didn't finish my doll clothes tasks!! I was working on that backing!! In my defense, this backing was mostly one piece of fabric, but it needed to be wider than 44 inches. I found a coordinating piece of fabric and sewed on strips to widen the back. I am pleased with how it turned out (and I used up more fabric - yay!!)

Another project was to pick out fabric for a different member, M, to cut in strips for a group project. It takes two coordinating colors/prints - it's a simple pattern, but makes a nice patchwork top. This has been fun matching pairs in contemporary color ways.

A third guild member wanted a hand quilting project for a relative who was willing. I found a small Trip Around the World pattern top and cut the batting and backing for her.

I still have to put together block kits and instructions for the mystery quilt project. I picked out binding for the two completed quilts I received last time. And, I need to pair a couple of more quilt sandwiches for people to pick up.

I like messing with the charity quilts supplies and projects. It appeals to the designer in me, even if it does interfere with my other goals.

Pictures soon, for real! I promise!

Happy Thanksgiving

On this chilly Thanksgiving day in Kansas City, I am staying around the house and working on my sewing. I must make great headway with my handmade Christmas Gifts this long holiday weekend. 

Ann's quilt is partially marked and layered and pinned. The inner section is will be simple diamonds using straight line quilting techniques. The quilt has three borders and I'm not sure what I'll do on them. Timing will probably have a lot to do with my design choices.

The doll clothes are coming along. I completed the first navy blue tee shirt today and I'm 95% done with the second one. I am making a muslin of the trench coat because it looks complicated and I don't have a lot of the fabric I chose for this project. The fabric is also rather expensive - a medium teal microsuede.  I found the piece in the remnant bin for half off.

I walked the dogs, I cooked two wonderful dishes for breakfast and lunch, and now I think I want a nap.  

 

Pictures soon.

Fender Bender

I got rear-ended on the way home from work today. It was a slow speed crash, nothing but my back bumper was damaged. I am fine, the other driver and his son (also in the pickup truck) are both fine. The police and traveler assistance came quickly and were professional and polite about the whole thing.  The other driver was pretty nice about it, too. It was one of those no win situations. The car in front of me stopped short. I slammed on the brakes and slid, but the ABS stopped me in time. The truck behind me was not so lucky. It was raining lightly and the road was covered with a light sheen of water. He slid right into me.

Not a bad crash, as they go, but it is still a hassle and it will probably end up costing me some money. And I'm a little shaken up.

Finally a day off

And I'm getting back to normal-ness.  So I'm sewing today and having a grand time.

The Charity Quilts committee was contacted by the charity we support, and they are in need of bed covers, primarily twin size.  It's a domestic violence shelter, and unfortunately it's has a full house, of late. I sent out an "all points bulletin" on the guild mailing list asking for anyone to help - have one that's done? Willing to take a top, batting, back, and finish it? Have a new store bought quilt or comforter hanging around? We'll make it get to the right place. A few members have stepped up and I'm thrilled.

I was putting together a couple of kits for my volunteers. We have so many pretty quilt tops just waiting to be finished! One person is coming momentarily to pick up two kits. I might do one myself, but I have some other sewing projects I need to get working on.

My projects are some doll clothes for my niece and a quilt for one of my dearest friends. Since I will be here for Thanksgiving with no plans, I hope to make a lot of progress on these projects.

For the doll clothes, I picked up McCall's 5775 and I picked out a few remnants from the bin to use. I found some microsuede in a dark teal color for 60% off in the bin, and I'm planning to make the trench coat out of it. I also found some poly-knit that will make some nice leggings and a T shirt. At the Kyoto fabric shop I found some adorable tiny appliques of Hello Kitty that are planned for the T shirt fronts. I also plan to make a pair of slacks and the long tunic top.  Maybe the handbag - that looks easy.

I should mention that my niece has two dolls. I need to make 2 of everything - matchy, or not.

It's a fun little project and I'm excited about doing it. I hope it goes well - I have not sewn doll clothes since I was a child, and I would consider that activity the loosest interpretation of the word "sew."  More like cut and glue.

Rain

The rain today is miserable. Cold, wet, gray. And it reminds me that our gutters are full of leaves and need to be cleaned out. Sheesh.

Makes me drink wine.

Another day off, on the Cusp of 45

In an earlier post I retorted that I was 45 years old. Not quite yet...tomorrow's the big day.  I knew when I hit my 30th birthday it was the beginning of the end. So it's happening. Jeez, was that birthday really 15 years ago? Oy, oy, oy.

Mostly I don't feel like I'm 45; however, some days I'm tired. Today is such a day. I have no reason to think I have a disease. I wonder if it's age or just losing resiliency when I'm over extended. I wonder if I lost some weight and exercised more I'd have more energy.

Let's see. I've been blogging for three years (the 3 year anniversary of this blog was on November 3).  Seems that I don't write about quilting too much on this site. I should. Here are two quilt stories.

The Challenge Quilt
This is my submission to my guild's quilt challenge, entitled "It's Easy Being Green." It is a denim quilt made from two pairs of jeans cut up and denim from other sources (see label, below). I did not win any prizes but I got positive feedback. It's heavy and warm. When it was hanging during the show, I noticed it wasn't quite true - there was a slight lettuce edge on one side. Eh.

Denim Quilt with Riley

Close up of Piecing Detail. Notice the pocket from the jeans! Fun!

Quilt Back. 

You can see the quilting a little better. 

It is a simple zigzag pattern, free motioned

Here's the label that tells its story

The Charity Quilt
This little child's quilt was donated to the guild for our charity donations. It's a whole-cloth quilt, with a cowboy print on one side and a leathery brown cotton on the other. It was minimally tied - like, eight ties for the whole thing!  That's not nearly enough. I thought it needed to be quilted, so Friday and yesterday, I worked on it. I did large all-over stipple.

Now it's worthy of donation, in my humble opinion.

Front of quilt

Close up of stippling detail. Not bad! 

Although, I might call this a medium stipple, not large.

Almost a Week Past Go Live

It's not as rosy as I'd wished. To use the President's style of speech...I want to make one thing perfectly clear - patient care is not in any way being compromised. The workflow for the doctors and nurses is problematic and it annoys the doctors and nurses. I can't fix this particular problem, but others are working on it non-stop.

Quick changes to a production system are risky and make me nervous. I don't know one way or the other, but I really hope that with every change they are running their regression tests before it migrates to production. Fifteen years in software development has left a lingering impression on me.

...calm down, of course they are running regression tests!

I have been troubleshooting all kinds of lower priority problems and questions. Mostly I am getting them fixed or answered. I feel so empowered!

Today is my day off - my first day completely off since Saturday 10/23. What will I do with myself? I'm giddy with freedom.

Is it here?

I think I had a hot flash last night. Is menopause here? Already? I wasn't expecting it.

NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!

All is well...all is well...all is well...

The big software release was on Monday morning and things went fairly well. There were a few hiccups, and a couple of things we need to fix, but aside from that, it has been a pretty good release.

I'm exhausted. I can't imagine how exhausted my boss and my coworkers who were more involved are feeling. Up until the release at midnight on Monday morning, I put in a lot of extra time. I'm salaried, so this was all free for the hospital.

The sad thing is that all of the extra work from overtime will have to be redone at some point. I hope it's not me that has to do it all. The other newbie and me did the bulk of this extra work (because we could....others were doing other important things). It was a bit frustrating because the tools we were using were buggy (so we had to devise ways of getting around those bugs) and the rules kept changing as we went along.  Eh.

Tomorrow, I have the morning off for real. I'm working the evening shift, so I go in later - in fact, I'd better get ready soon - I need to be there at 1230.

Yesterday, I had to clean and get ready for quilt guild in the morning. Today I went to quilt guild this morning. Tomorrow, I don't have to be anywhere or do anything in the morning (except take the cat to the vet...but not til 9)

Mostly the work has been alright. It's fun to be part of a team and I have felt like the work is appreciated and useful. It's just been a long haul - I've been working every day since last Sunday, October 24.  I hope this is the exception for this job. At 3 months, it is hard to tell yet.