Done with That One

 Smith Mountain Morning just came off the quilting frame.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love quilting on my HQ16?  I used to wrestle with quilts for days.  Now I seriously enjoy the process of finishing quilts. 

The Baptist Fans are all freehand -- this is such a quick pattern and I think it has a nice traditional feel to it.  I need to make some binding, but first, the pieces of the back for the teal quilt are still getting sewn together.  If I can get that done I'll get one more quilt loaded up so it will be ready when I have some time. I am remembering a cool circuit board kind of quilting patter I saw somewhere.  I wonder if I can find it again?

Busy Bees

 Anna sews a quilt she just decided to start which she will forget about by the end of the day. 

 Ryan programs his Lego Robot before the practice starts this morning.  The theme this year is elderly people.  Can you see the Lego quilts near the front of the board?

Mom quilts Smith Mountain Morning using freehand Baptist Fans. 
Sydney is sleeping off a sleepover and Dad is slow smoking a pork butt on the new grill. 
What are you up to this weekend?

Bouncing Around

I was already to quilt Smith Mountain this morning, but didn't have any of the caramel colored thread I like to use on scrap quilts because it blends so well with most things. 

So while waiting for everyone to get up and around I pondered the backing for Sydney's teal crumbs.  It is amazing how skinny my stash is getting.  Definitely time to do a little shopping!  Sydney helped me decide on this collection of black prints which I cut in 10.5 inch squares. I love using things up.  So much more satisfying than going to the store and buying a big hunk of generic yardage in just the right color. 

Orca Bay is patiently waiting for binding. Maybe teal?

Still haven't made the binding for the Christmas quilt either. I am thinking of the same red from the inner border. 
Now the hard part -- deciding what to work on!  Bonnie is on with quilt cam, so I'll find something I can do with her. 

Cross #1 Off the List

The pieced borders are finally on Smith Mountain Morning.  I have plenty of fabric for a backing thanks to a summer clearance sale and Joann's It can't go on the frame quite yet as there is a Christmas Log Cabin quilt hanging out there.  First though, Orca Bay is also waiting patiently for pieced borders.   They are a pain in the neck, but they really do give the quilt a nice finish, don't they?

First on the List

Smith Mountain Morning is first on the list of things I will finish before I start a new quilt.  The pieced border is done.  I think it just needs an inner border and then everything can get sewn together.  That shouldn't be too hard, right?  I will finish off a few things before anything new gets too far along.  I am determined.

Smith Mountain

I didn't even step foot on the freshly painted patio today. Although I tried to talk the kids into swimming so that I would be forced to sit and watch them, they were all busy doing other things.  Instead I got the blocks for Smith Mountain put together.  I'm working on the pieced border now, so it should be ready to go on.  The pieced border for Orca Bay is still in waiting, I guess that will be next on the list.  Red Tag fabrics were on clearance last week and I found two nice big pieces to use for backing fabric.  My stash is getting very low, especially when it comes to large amounts of one fabric.  There are three quilts hanging over the quilt frame as I type, so I'd better start getting creative on finding backing possibilities. 

Blocks Done

I was sure I would get the blocks done for Smith Mountain Majesty yesterday.  Life got in the way though, and it wasn't until today that I found those last few minutes between carpools to sew the rest.   Ryan wanted to see The Avengers in order to round out our Marvel superheros marathon.  He was pretty adamant about wanting to see it in 3-D.  Ryan doesn't get adamant about much, so we planned the day around that.  Since I was dropping off for math camp and the theater in is the same general direction, we spent the morning in my classroom finishing off the painting in the storeroom.  I had gotten most of it done during post planning, but the cabinet doors and drawer fronts and shelves still needed to get painted and put back together.  After that it was off to see the movie which lasted until it was time to get Sydney from her camp.  Theoretically there was still time to sew in the evening, but it would have taken some sort of energy or enthusiasm, and I was fresh out of both.  Have you ever had those evenings when you just sit on the couch thinking you are going to get up any minute, but never quite make it happen?
I think I'll go get the blocks pinned together now before they all start falling off of the wall.  I like to look at them for a while though and make sure that the balance and distribution are good.  There is probably enough pieces and variety in these guys that it would be hard to find a cluster of similarity anywhere. I still need to cut out the pieces for the borders, after that I can empty out the tub and figure out what is next. 
I have been spending a little time for the last few evenings cutting out a BOM pattern that I ordered as a kit from Connecting Threads.   For some reason it just never moved to the top of the list.  I think about half of the blocks are cut out now and nicely organized in little baggies with directions.  Sydney wanted a shoebox for her magic show though, and the only one I could find was holding the quilt kit. 

Like Molasses

 So slowly, the Smith Mountain blocks are coming together.  Goodness do they have a lot of little pieces!  The center portions all got finished up last night, and I thought the stars would come together easily enough today. 

Instead, the Chimney blocks are almost finished.  I did put a few stars together to start to get a feel for how the quilt will look.  Sometimes I get impatient with working one block at a time and just want to see them start coming together.
Sunday is Pizza night, so maybe I'll get a few more put together a bit later.  The boys have been gone all day playing Dungeons and Dragons so they are going to pick it up on the way home.

Progress

 All the subunits are done for Smith Mountain!  I have them all counted and ready to go for the star blocks.  The center for the alternate blocks are set to go as well, and the logs are cut to length. 

As much as I would love to keep going while I am on a role, I am switching gears.  We ordered new patio furniture a couple of weeks ago, and it has started to arrive.  Cleaning and painting of the pool deck is on my summer list, and it would be nice to get it done in time for the new patio set.  So I'm off to pressure wash and acid etch.  I'm not sure we will be rain free for long enough to paint, but I'll get a start at least so I can feel like something has been accomplished. 

Packing

 When the kids started to pack up for vacation, they loaded up on swimsuits and counted out underwear.  The first thing I did was to pick a project to carry along.  I've still got my little baskets for handwork, but I also wanted to have a project for evenings in the hotel room.  There are two projects from Bonnie Hunters new book that both use 1.5 inch and 3.5 inch strips.  I am planning one in blue and brown and one in blue red and white.  

We spent the morning watching the shuttle launch.  There was a lot of low cloud cover, so it wasn't visible for very long.  It is the last launch ever though, so we had to see it go up.  I'll miss being able to pop out into the front yard and see them go up. 
After that we all went out to a movie and then came home to finish packing.  Mom's surgery is scheduled for next week so the tentative plan is for me to catch a ride to Atlanta with the in-laws to help mom out.  She has a girlfriend coming to stay with her for the first few days and then the plan is for me to stay for the next week or so.