2024 Studio Post #34 - Another 5 in 1 . . .

This is so sad. This entry represents September 22 - October 20 in terms of five weeks of sewing. Clearly, I've not been a great time manager. For the first four of those weeks, I would have had very little to share. I mostly used my studio as a dumping ground for various things. I also made the studio into my youngest grandson's bedroom for one night.

 

I worked on a few small things:

• finding some trim for my Crazy quilt block
• ripping out and resewing the "hem" of the toilet paper storage cover for Strawberry Lake. (I had only folded it over once and it was raveling a bit after laundering. Now it has a double fold hem.)
• I sewed a replacement mat for my grandson's swing (that will have a separate entry)
  
• gathering up supplies to bring to the In Town Retreat

 

I had so much fun in January that I signed up for the October 17-19 In Town Retreat. Once again, I stayed at my friend's house and had such a good time!

I had inherited a child size fleece mitten (and I still have lots of fleece from my mother-in-law!) so I planned to make a mate for the mitten. I didn't care that it wouldn't match - I would have a pair for my grandson to use if he didn't have his with or they got all wet. But when I finished it, I realized that I had accidentally made a second left hand mitten. I set it aside and worked on something else. Later, I decided to just make two right hand mittens and be done with it! I carefully made two more mittens but when I turned them right side out, I had two more left hand mittens! I was both frustrated AND mad at myself.

 

I realized my mistake and drew a little picture of what I should have cut and sewn. I packed it away for another day. And then my compulsion to FINISH had me pulling it out and making FOUR right hand mittens (referring to my drawing) so now I have four pairs of little mittens for the grands. (Plus a slightly larger pair at the left.) Sigh. It was a learning experience. The directions I followed included a cuff, but I just made basic mittens. I also made my own template because I didn't want to give my email to get the free pattern. I have too much junk coming into my mailbox already!

Another project I worked on was the Medora challenge crib quilt. I cut out most of the pieces, but didn't have my own rulers there and decided to hold off on it. The design has an odd angle and I'm not going to get the fancy ruler, so I'll need to measure really carefully before I cut out the shapes. I don't use patterns often and I'm trying to be more careful. (I won this pattern at the August or September meeting.) I feel good about where I'm at and may bring it with me to the November retreat.

 

 

The most important project I worked on was the wedding quilt for my oldest and his wife. They got married in 2016 . . . and I bought the fabric with my daughter-in-law in 2017. I had planned to do a disappearing nine patch and had 5" squares on my design wall for a long, long time. But I'm glad I didn't move forward with that. I think a log cabin block with lights on one side and darks on the other will work better. I did some cutting and sewing and look forward to doing more with that. I have two more light fabrics and one more dark fabric to add. I made almost fifty of these blocks so far, but I need to trim about twenty to size. Again, I'm trying to be more precise!

I am encouraged that I'm finally moving forward with this. I don't usually spend lots of money buying fabric, so I think I've been a bit scared about messing this up.

This is what I had decided for the nine patch . . . and it just doesn't work.

I finally finished all the stitching on my 2024 Challenge - Morning Glories - wall hanging. I had it in the show, but didn't feel finished with it. It's packed away for spring now. (Pics below.)

 

I had a few other small things with me. I did some journaling in my quilt "scrap" book. I grabbed some fabric off the "free" table while telling myself, "You don't need more stuff!" But five yards of music themed fabric?! How could I pass that up?