Quilting on Thanksgiving

  

I have 22 rows on my Thimble quilt so just 14 to go! And this is what I'll be working on today. 

I haven't always been able to make my daily row but somedays I made two so I'm right on schedule.

Last night I organized my thimbles into groups of 50 and have WAY more cut than needed. I put 14 stacks aside for the 14 rows needed. There's going to be a minimum of 36 rows but with so many extras I really think 40-42 rows would be better. Forty-two would be a 72"x 84" ....that's probably the best size for this. 

Today is Thanksgiving. Al and I are having a quiet day at home. One daughter is celebrating with her boyfriend and the other has her in-laws coming over. She invited us but we decided to avoid a big get together this year. 

Michigan is on a 3 week "social break" to try to reduce the amount of Covid. BUT that doesn't mean we aren't having a great dinner! 

Al picked up a small turkey breast for us. I'm still making mashed potatoes w/ gravy, sweet potatoes, veggies, cranberries, fresh bread, pies...etc.! There's going to be lots of leftovers ...that's the best part, right?! 

So I'll be cooking and sewing...Al can do his usual...eat and watch TV😂.

Hopefully we can have a normal holiday next year.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

 

Charlie's Ball Quilt is done

 And it's done!! I machine stitched the binding down this morning. It should hold up to whatever this active toddler throws at it. Five minutes after getting the quilt, he was using it as a road...lol...well, as long as he's using it somehow, I'm happy.

I have to thank all the sweet ladies that sent me ball fabrics through Instagram's #getyourquiltywishesgranted4

 I recieved so many cute ball fabrics and used quite a few. The leftovers will go into a pillow for Charlie along with one leftover block. And I might even make a pillowcase. I have leftovers of the binding/sashing fabric too. 

Oh! And I remembered to sign the back of his quilt. I mostly forget to do that. I've probably made a 100 quilts over the years and gave away or donated more than half of them. I bet I signed or labeled about 10😣.... Why is it so hard to do that one last thing? 💁

Quilting on Charlie's quilt

I've finished quilting Charlie's ball quilt...yay!! One step closer to the finish.

I went with straight lines. It seemed to be more masculine than my usual free-motion swirls or meanders.

They aren't evenly spaced lines...kind of here and there...wherever I felt it needed a row. And I probably would have stitched even more lines through it but my shoulders were starting to ache...PLUS I wanted it done.

I've cut the binding and have started attaching it. By tomorrow this quilt will be finished. I'm doing a machine stitched binding ...its for a toddler so it'll be getting pretty rough treatment. 

The binding is the same fabric as the sashing. There's enough going on throughout this quilt...I didnt feel like it needed more. I just hope my eyes can see as I stitch this binding...it blends in TOO well. Al offered to bring up his construction lighting.😂 I may just take him up on that!

 

Still making thimbles

 Today I'm start to work on Charlie's ball quilt but first I wanted to finish up a couple of rows on the Thimble Quilt.

Here's a close-up of part of my quilt. I cut a few "I-spy" thimbles with cats, umbrellas, cars and other fun stuff for my grandsons to find.

After attaching a few more rows, I put this away so that I could concentrate on finishing up Charlie's ball quilt. 

I'm doing straight line quilting on it. I debated doing my usual meander or swirls but this will be more masculine, I think.

Anyway, it's getting done. I'd like to be putting on binding this weekend so he can get his "big boy" bed set up.

Thimble scrap quilt

The thimble quilt is coming along nicely...

17 rows....so almost halfway.

I've been getting a row or two a day made, most days. I had a couple of days when I was sick in bed with a bug one of the grandkids shared...but otherwise, I'm getting them made. Michigan is going on a three week lockdown in two days. I have a feeling I'll get lots of quilting done then. 

I DO need to get Charlie's ball quilt quilted. It's sitting right here staring me in the face🙈...well, I need to be in the mood. Maybe tomorrow. 

But even when my intentions are good...I see these thimbles stacked up and just cant resist. They are SO addictive!!

 

Thimble quilt

Yes!

I started a new quilt. Like most of my starts, I was simply cleaning up scraps...organizing them...slicing them up into 2-1/2" and 1-1/2 strips.

Why was I cleaning up scraps again?...well, the TV was on and election results were starting...and instead of biting my nails, I cut😀

So the 2-1/2" strip box was overflowing now with all the strips that were being cut out of scraps.  I grabbed my fairly new thimble template and cut a few....hundred. I stitched a few together to see how easy it would be...and I was hooked. I sewed them until I had a 6 foot piece...that was 50 thimbles. They're two inches tall when sewn in so I figure I need at least 36 rows. That should take about a month if I do a row or two a day.

This little template was purchased at Joann's Fabrics and it does the job but I seem to remember that @creativegrids has a better one. If you haven't purchased either and were in the market for one, I think it would make sense to check that one out. I think it had a bunch of thimble shapes in a row...so you could cut multiples from a strip quickly. My template does the job (and was very reasonably priced) but it's slow going. 

These little pieces are SO addictive! All 1800 pieces are cut out plus some extras...I might do 37 or 38 rows. 

So far I've sewn 11 rows...it's been 5 days. 

I don't want to have to put this on my UFO list. I would like to get it completed THIS year. 

DON'T LAUGH!! It's possible! 

It's going to be my 2020 quilt... Started in 2020...finished in 2020. 

Here's hoping!!