Intervention

This is what I found when I went to the studio Saturday morning.  

Dug had called a meeting of the sewing studio squirrels and they were getting ready to stage an intervention over the pillow project.

(left to right - Nutsie, Fluffy, Cinnamon, Dug, and Ty)

They agreed to go to their respective spots after I promised to get at least one pillow done before lunchtime.  

Ta Da - pillow number one (of twelve).

By the end of the afternoon, three pillows were finished and I had the measurements well enough in hand to cut the rest of the backing pieces.  The top slabs were trimmed to size and pairs of binding strips were sewn (but not yet pressed) for the nine remaining pillows.

As promised a few posts back I finally managed to get this photo of Fluffy and Cinnamon, the sibling squirrels.  I'm happy to see that Cinnamon is getting comfortable enough in the studio to join in with the scurry's nonsense. 

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P.S.  the box in the background contains waiting squares for December's utility mats, plate sorted for their various tops and backs.   Those are next on the list after the pillows are done.

Quiltdivajulie

September Monthly Recap

September was a month filled with pondering, planning, stash shopping, and stitching.

Studio Squirrels Exhibit A  - the quilt top and scrappy pieced backing for Ludiosis were started and finished, neither of which were seriously on the radar until after the first of the year.

The long-planned set of twelve new pillows achieved a major milestone with the top slabs stitched and the batting and backing for those slabs cut.  Next month I'll get them sandwiched, quilted, and trimmed to size before cutting any of the pillow envelope backing pieces.   The goal is to have them in use by early November.

The vacuum sealed pillow forms were released from their packages and are expanding while the rest of the process proceeds.

Exhibit B for the studio squirrels is Candy Corn - a gift project that saw a quilt top and a finished quilt started/completed during the second half of September.

Exhibit B-Part 2 is the long runner made using the three extra columns from Candy Corn.  

On the intentional side of things, Rastro (the second bonus quilt from the Macnas series) became a finished quilt.

Githerments, the third bonus quilt from the Macnas series, was pin basted and is ready for quilting/binding in October with thread chosen and bobbins wound.

Motley, the fourth bonus quilt top from the Macnas series, was donated to Many Hands and Many Hearts along with yardage I had planned to use for binding.

September saw plans come together and significant prep work for several sets of seasonal utility mats and placemats.  

The squares cut for December's set of reversible utility mats (posted here) have now been sorted into groups for 5 top slabs and 5 back slabs ready for piecing.  Batting and binding strips were also cut.

(Above) Six 

tops (gray print), six backs (spotted black), and six pieces of batting were cut this month with lots of binding made for a second 

set of January placemats.  

I pulled this gathering of pieces from the resource boxes to make a companion set of five utility mats for January.

The scrappy tops will be pieced using these fabrics and the backs will be cut from companionable yardage (pulled but not shown).

I finished this pair of gift pillowcases on the 29th making them the last project of September.

Finally - squirrel Exhibit C - introducing Dug.

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Stay tuned for lots more stitching/quilting/binding during October. 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Little by little, one travels far."

J.R.R. Tolkien

Welcome to the Studio

Welcome to the studio, Dug.

Given that he's the one who uttered "Squirrel!" in the movie UP, it seemed only fitting that he join up with my studio squirrels.

(birthday present from younger son who gets my squirrel-y sense of humor)

I used the three extra columns from Candy Corn and turned them into a 15" x 70" runner for our dining room buffet as part of our October seasonal decor.  

Quilted with Glide thread in Raven (deep purple) using closely spaced uneven wavy lines.

Candy Corn is now pin basted and the bobbins for Max are wound.

The goal is to get this one quilted and finished so it can be gifted during Sunday's family dinner. 

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This was my "big" birthday present from DH . . . I haven't even begun to figure out all the things it can do but I have managed to customize the screen photos using several of my own pictures.  

One step at a time.

Quiltdivajulie

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"The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things."

Henry Ward Beecher