Sunday turned out to be a very productive day. Although I'd planned on going to church in the morning and running a couple of errands on the way home, Mother Nature intervened. It's not unusual for us to have ice storms in early spring, but they're normally a March event, not a mid-April one. Oh well. We bagged all ideas of driving anywhere and, fortunately, didn't end up losing power either. So I was trapped inside with a working sewing machine. There are far worse fates!
I got a lot of other stuff done first--starting the process of switching from winter to spring/summer wardrobes (despite the ice outside), getting some random shelves cleaned and sorted, organizing some task lists, and the like.
Saturday, while running errands, I had stopped at a former LQS that had closed and, shortly after closing, had been bought by someone else and turned into a new LQS. They've only been open a couple of weeks and I was curious. They're still largely empty--not a huge stock of fabric yet--but I did like her selections. A little heavy on the children's novelty fabric for the amount of stock she has, in my opinion, but a decent selection of other things. I know her offerings will expand and even out over time so I'm okay with it. I did pick up a few things as I'd definitely like her to stay open. Other than a big ol' can of 505 for some upcoming basting I've got on my schedule, I also picked up Deb Tucker's Wing Clipper ruler, some more mini-clips (have all three sizes now and find uses for all of them!), and the Nest jelly roll, because we all know how I feel about pudgy birds. I had no intention of buying another jelly roll but, again, I want her to stay open. Just doing my part for the local economy.
Pay attention, as part of this purchase becomes relevant again later.
On Friday evening, I had finished hand-sewing the binding down on one of the two baby quilts I have on my UFO challenge list for guild. I can now officially call it a finish. Although, hmmm. Just remembered I think I'm supposed to have labeled it too, which I didn't. Time for a "hand-written with a sharpie" label.
I did an all-over meander with a medium-gray thread to blend. I'm never positive about how to quilt big panel picture things like this (Take the time to outline everything in the picture? Do big squares to avoid quilting over most of the picture? What?), so I just went for fast and easy. I do like the wrinkly effect it gives, though--makes it look cuddly.
I started this a month or so before said baby was born. It'll be a gift for her first birthday in May. That's still legit, right? I'm just glad it's complete and off my cutting table!
Because I finished a UFO, that left my way clear to start a new project. Woo! I spent a few minutes cleaning off the shelves in my cutting table on Sunday, as I was pondering what new project to do. I ran across an old Crafty class project on learning to machine quilt (don't recall which class it was--sorry). I had completely forgotten about this--it's not really a UFO because I never had any intention of actually finishing it. Yesterday, I decided to finish off the edge with a quick zig-zag stitch (no binding) and hang it in my "Rogues Gallery."
I never completed this project because the borders were supposed to have another layer of small circles in the outside ring of the feathers. I did about 4" worth and called it a day. I knew this wasn't something that would ever be displayed in public and I'd learned what I needed to learn. So the zig-zag edging was good enough for horseshoes.
My Rogues Gallery is a display of my experiments, class projects, and other learning opportunities that aren't good enough for display in any public areas of the house, but serve to remind me of where I've been and where I'd like to go.
The Rogues Gallery is in the hallway leading in to my sewing room/home office. You can't see them from downstairs so it's not really a public display. Once in awhile I'll look at one of them to remind myself of a particular technique I haven't used in awhile.
And yes, that's Chicken Butt hanging on the lower row towards the end. He's still my favorite.
So now with a UFO finished and a second sorta-UFO-class-project off my shelf and hung up, I really felt clear to start a new project! The first step is, of course, deciding what to do. I chose to put the Nest jelly roll to work immediately as I'd love to have pudgy birds to curl up with whenever spring does actually arrive. I perused my "2 1/2 strip" playlist on YouTube and came up with this quilt from Jenny Doan. I'm using some tone-on-tone white from my stash, so even though the jelly roll was a stash addition, I'm still making a dent in my actual stash! So...stay tuned!