Accomplished: One Monthly Goal for April

At the beginning of April I determined (in this post) that I would finish hand quilting all the blocks in the center of this quilt.

I'm pleased to say that yesterday I accomplished that goal.  (And won't we all be pleased when this quilt is finally finished, down to the binding, so we won't have to see it over and over again, post after post?!  I know I will be!)

You may be able to see the pins around the edges of the quilt.  Those are in the 20 half-block setting triangles around the edges yet to be quilted.

I'm linking this post to OMG:  It's Finished, April Link-up Party! at Red Letter Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Heidi.

--Nancy.
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How She Wound Her Bobbin

When I see sewing notions (at the thrift store or if we happen to stop at a yard sale) -- a box with a package of unopened Singer needles, some pins, a few bobbins, spools of thread, and buttons -- all for a dollar, they're mine.  This bobbin and a few others were in a box I bought last year.

I know this isn't the clearest photo but I think you can see enough detail.  The owner of this bobbin tied the end of the thread around one of the holes in the bobbin, then wound some thread onto the bobbin.  And then she used a different color of thread, tied it around one of the holes, and wound more thread.  And repeated the process several more times.  There were five different colors of thread on this bobbin.

Did she wind all the thread on the same day?  Did she use the first color and then later, when she needed a different color, wind the second color onto the same bobbin, perhaps because she didn't have but one or two bobbins?  I'm puzzled about why she tied the thread around the holes.  (They were so tightly tied I had a hard time getting the point of my seam ripper under the thread.)  Do you tie the ends of thread around the hole in the bobbin?

I am always fascinated by others' sewing notions.  Are you, too?

--Nancy.
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Everything's Going Slowly Except Time

I don't know what it is but I'm not making quick progress with anything these days.  And yet time just speeds by.  The end of the day comes and I wonder where the time went and how I managed to accomplish so little.

One thing I have been making progress with is hand quilting these blocks.

Finishing the whole blocks and the sashing between them is my one monthly goal for April.  I'm almost there.  I have the rest of this block to quilt plus several sashing pieces and then I'll be done--with the center blocks.

I used to breathe a sigh of relief when I finished quilting the center section of a quilt, thinking that I really was very nearly done because I only had the edges to do.  I've learned that the outer border can take almost as much time as half the center did.  I don't think my one monthly goal for May will be finishing all 20 half-blocks around the edge of this quilt.  (Because time is going too fast.)

These blocks

have become mostly leaders/enders (sometimes of themselves).  Unfortunately I'm not sewing another quilt at the moment so there's not much leading and ending happening. 

And lastly, I've been playing with the borders of this quilt. 

I have no idea where it's going or what it will end up looking like.  I don't think I've ever made a quilt that I knew in advance what it would look like at the end.  If I were a musician I'd say I play by ear.  I don't know what quilters call it when they make decisions as they go along.

The only thing I've decided for sure about this quilt is that I'm adding a narrow, 1" tan border.  (You see a 1 1/2" strip of fabric in the photo.)

I cut border fabric on Saturday, trying to match the lines as I cut and sewed the strips together.  Mostly I succeeded.  Maybe I can work a little faster and get the border stitched tomorrow.  More on this quilt later.

I'm linking this post to
Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times
Moving It Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Main Crush Monday #17 at Cooking Up Quilts

Thanks for hosting, ladies.  And thanks to you readers.  I appreciate that you took the time to visit.

--Nancy.
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Quilts from a Local Quilt Show

These are quilts from the Columbus Metropolitan Quilters show in early April, 2016.  The venue was cramped with aisles only about 3 feet wide.  It was a little hard to get good photos.  Sometimes I had to go to the next aisle and nestle my camera between quilts to take photos.  These are a very few of the quilts that were on display.

On some of the quilts you may have noticed a little flower or rosette on the side.  It was a clothespin with a flower attached.  We were told to use the clothespin to lift the quilt if we wanted to see the back.  Nifty!

I hope you have a great day!

--Nancy.
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Down to Six

Just six of these blocks and the sashing around them left to hand quilt to finish my one monthly goal for April.

But the hand quilting won't be finished until I've done the 20 half-block setting triangles.  I wonder if it will seem like I'm going twice as fast because I'll be quilting half as much per block.  Either way, I'll enjoy the quiet time spent with needle, thread, and quilt in a hoop.

Happy quilting to you.
--Nancy.

I'm linking this post to
> WOW at Esther's Blog
> Let's Bee Social #120 at Sew Fresh Quilts
Thanks for hosting, ladies.
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When One Quilt Depends on Another

I made the background for these star blocks from the light scraps in the basket.  Scraps just pile up until I have to do something with them.
 

Sort, or pull out all of one color or several colors from the basket -- choose a block, and begin a quilt.  (My scraps are not yet organized by color.  It's on my to do list.)

When I cut out behind the appliqued stars I had more scraps already sewn together into about 4" squares.  So I squared them and sewed them together with 3/4" sashing and tiny 3/4" center squares.

I continued making more and now have 23.  But then I thought I might want to use those light scraps to make a border for the star quilt.  So I quit sewing the leftover scrap blocks until I knew whether they would work for a border.  This is when progress on one quilt depends on another quilt. 

Yesterday I laid the light scraps around the quilt, considering how they would look as a border.  It's not enough for me to imagine, and sometimes it's not even enough to see with the naked eye.  Sometimes I see things better in a photograph.  This time, just waiting till the next morning for a second look was enough; and the photograph added confirmation.

Now that I know I won't be using those scraps for the star border, I can make more of these blocks.

Sometimes, when I look at these blocks hanging together the thought of an old-fashioned window frame with small panes of glass comes to mind.  It's too soon to tell how these will go together.

I'm linking this post to blogs below and thank the ladies who host these link-ups.

• Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs Sew and Sow
• Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is more fun than Housework
• I May [KNOW I] Have a Scrap Problem - Ready for April at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
• To-Do Tuesday 4-12/16 at Stitch All the Things
• Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
• Building Blocks Tuesday at Quilter in the Closet 
• Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts

Thanks for visiting.

--Nancy.
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My One Monthly Goal for April, 2016

In this quilt there are 14 whole blocks and the sashing around them that still need hand quilting.  I intend to finish those blocks and sashing during the month of April.

That doesn't mean the quilt will be finished because there will be 20 half-blocks around the perimeter of the quilt -- but they can wait their turn.

This month's goal will simply be a commitment of time and won't require any creative decisions like last month's goal.  With 30 days in the month and 14 blocks to quilt, I should be able to finish one block every two days.  (Let's see.  I think I have a stack of movies waiting in the family room....)

I'm linking this post to OMG (One Monthly Goal):  Plans for April at Red Letter Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Heidi.

--Nancy.
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