Afternoon

Hi!

So this morning, I cleaned my iron. And made the hubby mad, because the smoke detector went off again, despite the open window. This time, he was sitting in the same room! Two fans were required the clear the smoke. "Next time, clean that thing outside!" he declared.

When the iron was clean, I noticed something weird, and asked my hubby to inspect the iron. What I thought was baked-on starch or fusible residue, was breaks, scratches and bubbles in the Teflon coating on the iron's sole plate....and scattered across the plate. Oh great. The metal deteriorating through the Teflon was what was leaving black marks on the ridges of my pressed seams!

I definitely bought that iron before I met my hubby, so at least 10 years ago. Hubby suggested we should look for a new iron!  Yay!

Then I ironed a bunch of shirts for work with a clean iron. After lunch, I settled in for an afternoon of paper piecing. I got a section finished for the ladder trucks. Just one section left--the ladder--which will be the most time-consuming of all the sections.

It's been nice to feel well during an afternoon for once, and to be able to relax and just sew pieces for quilts. Little guy is feeling lonely because big brother started school last week, so he wanted to help me clean the sewing machine.

A great time to clean the machine and change needles, is in between projects!

MIA

Have you missed me? I miss me!

Either I've been too tired, too busy, too much work, and not enough sewing, or a combo of all of that, to post.

I'm 17 weeks pregnant, and I need to wait till 20 weeks to find out what this baby is! Oh well, it gives me more time to work on my projects! I think I can feel the baby moving occasionally, which is very exciting.

I finished hand-piecing the King's Star at work one day.

I decided to try making bags, so I took the free Craftsy class "Bag-Making Basics". There are great instruction sheets to print off, as well as the video class. I recommend printing the instructions and follow along with the video.

The circle bottoms were hard to sew, especially the outer bag with all the layers, but it was doable.

I took the chance to practice FMQ and the paisleys I learned how to do in Angela Walters' Craftsy class, "Quilting Negative Space". Doing the paisleys has a different rhythm to it than spirals, and uses a lot more thread. There was a lot of draw-in, too. It's not necessary to quilt the outer bag, but i liked it holding the fusible fleece and fabric together and adding some beauty and stability. I think when I make another one, will quilt it more lightly like the first one--with loose spirals or something similar.

These bags are so cute--I can see them as treat bags for Halloween!

Then I started a zipper pocket caddy by Tim Holz for Coats and Clark...it was a free project download from the company e-newsletter. Pretty quick and easy!

I'm wondering of some of the cutting dimensions are typos, because the front panel us shorter than the back pieces!

What should I do? I'm thinking I'll just see the bag around the front piece and cut off the extra back.

August goals

I can't believe it's August and the week of my birthday!

Goals for August:

1--finish paper-piecing the rescue vehicles, and piece and appliqué the bumpers and wheels to complete the blocks.

2--Complete the Secret Sister project and get it sent off.

3--Complete at least two more Swoon blocks.

4--complete at least one more Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block.

5--I sure would like to join in Melissa's Star Surround QAL, but I need more supplies (fabric that I really want).....and I think I will do it for the baby's quilt. And the supplies will depend on what the baby is! Which means: I probably won't get to join in until it's over.

Ok, I think that's enough! It's plenty to keep me busy, but I still want to do more!

Swoon cutting

Hi.

I finished off my week by finally getting something accomplished, quilting-wise.

I finished cutting all the background pieces for the Swoon quilt!  Yay!

It was a lot of pieces. I was trying to get over my fear of cutting multiple layers. It was definitely a lot quicker. My wrists are sore, though. 

Part of my fear of multiple layers is the extra pressure that is needed in the ruler--to keep it from slipping, and also pressure on the rotary cutter.

Does it take more toll on your wrists to cut multiple layers at once, or cut single layers over and over again?

I developed tendinitis in both my wrists from working production clothing sewing for a year and a half, 9 years ago. They still bother me often, especially with repetitive motion, extended computer work, heavy cleaning, lifting children. I don't have a strong grip. I still get swollen wrists and numbness often.

Anyway, didn't mean to dump. Just wanted to celebrate a small accomplishment.

Any advice for making quilting tasks easier on the body?