Day 135

 

More i's

Day 134

No sewing today

Day 131, 132, 133

Just dotting i's and starting the MCQ challenge. 

Day 130

I was getting pretty excited to get the label on, but then realized I'm not done dotting the i's.

 

Day 129

The sleeve is complete. Tomorrow I'll do the label. 

 

Day 128

Cave Women!

Day 125, 126, and 127

Hand sewed the binding on the back and have 1/2 the sleeve sewn on.  Used the pink Ombré from Sew With Me in Woodbury 

 

Day 124

No creativity today. I'm beat from not getting much sleep last night to a long and stressful day at work. 

Day 123

I started the sleeve but ended up doing some ripping.  

Day 122

Just a repeat of yesterday, dotting i's. 

Day 121

Literally dotting my i's by hand.  

 

Day 119 and 120

 

Day 118

I'm not getting any help taking care of the threads. 

 

Day 117

 

Done. Now back to Nevertheless. 

Day 114, 115, 116

On Monday I finished the last of the machine appliqué on the Nevertheless. 

 

On Tuesday I searched for the right Star block pattern for the 2018 raffle quilt. The kit included the fabrics but you pick your own block. 

 

And after that block searching, tonight I just drafted a typical star block. 

 

Day 113

 

I'm half way done with the zig zag appliqué. 

Day 112

Ironed on with fusible and zigzagging the edges.  

Day 111

 

Day 110

Found this pink to red ombré fabric for the lettering at Sew With Me in Woodbury. 

 

Day 109

 

Turns out I didn't like my fabric choices this morning and decided to stop by a quilt shop tonight; turns out I worked late and Sew with Me closed by the time I left work.  So this is what I'm spending my creative time on. 

Day 108

 

I'm thinking of going with some pinky-reds for the lettering but I didn't get far tonight because I don't want to start cutting until I make sure I like them in daylight. 

Day 105, 106, and 107

On day 105 I finished the text on the quilt, which is definitely a banner. 

Day 106 I decided the layout and today I pick out the fabric.  Should I hand or machine appliqué the letters?  Big time difference between the two but I'll be happy not to be glued to the sewing machine.   Maybe some type of blanket stitch with floss?  Hmmm...

 

Day 104

I probably have only one row left but I'm starting to make mistakes so it's time to stop. 

I see mistakes from previous day's work that I'll have to redo. 

 

Day 103

 

This is what I have left to quilt on Nevertheless. I will complete this by Saturday if not tomorrow; and then I start on the Dingleberries font. 

Day 102

 Two more rows done. I would estimate that I have 7 or 8 more rows to go. 

Day 101

Only more machine quilting on Nevertheless. 

Day 100

Tonight was Cavewomen and it was kids night at Pizza Luce and walking in I got felt up by a kid who pointed to my boobs and asked why I "have those". 

Day 99

  

Day 98

 

I made a mistake buying this fine thread for my lettering, this is too big of a project for these small spools of  225 yards. So far I've used 2 complete spools. One spool makes for 3 bobbins holding 75 yards each.  Also, Coats& Clark changed the official type of this thread from "Fine" to "Paper Piecing". 

Question to ponder later: When I used one spool for the bobbin and one spool for the top thread, why did I run out of bobbin thread way earlier than top thread?  They were both brand new spools. 

 

One bobbin does >4 lines of text. I think it's 85" wide, which is another error...I was going to make it 75" wide but forgot about it when I started quilting. 

Unfortunately I don't think the quality of my work is going to improve as I go. Even when I start feeling like I've got my groove going the quilt gets hung up on the edge of the sewing machine. 

Day 93, 94, 95, 96, and 97

Prepping for the 'Nevertheless' piece, my days were filled with prepping fabric. 

 

My big ironing board consists of all leaves put in the table and layers of quilts put in top. 

 

Going to try this, fusible batting. I was concerned about how lumpy it was because I can't throw it in the drier to even it out. At both the Fairfield and the Poly-Fil websites I couldn't find info about it. 

So I just put all the layers down and followed the instructions. 

 

 

And so I started. Machine quilting the words looks terrible, but it will get my point across. 

Day 92

 

Still day 91

Recycled thread made in Germany. I won't use it in a quilt but I will use it for something.  It says ten spools of 110 yd spools comes from one bottle.  

Day 91

I'm working on my MCQ BIG and little challenge.  

Day 87, 88, 89, 90 and 91

91 days of sewing. Somehow I thought I would have a lot more done, but I also thought I had a good chance of pooping out on it when other things got in the way. But it's been worth it.   

Day 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, and 86

I have been sewing at least an hour every day, and many hours over the weekend.  I am done with the 'blocks' part of the mystery quilt so I haven't been posting pictures. I can post pictures as each clue is revealed to those who signed up for it.  During sewing I was listening to "The City of Dreams", the 400 year history of immigrants in New York City.  I've sewn during all 24.5 HOURS of the audio book.  

It's so sad that we repeat history over and over.  100+ years ago the same hate and despair for Catholics or the Irish as the American culture has for Muslims today, was fueling riots, driving the political system to create new laws to abate the the amount of Catholic and Irish immigrants into New York. The Catholics and Irish were going to 'ruin America' and 'turn every American into a Catholic'.

When slaves were set free they were taking jobs from white people.  Even though there weren't cars, they used a horse drawn wagon with a bomb to set off on the street.    Black people were hung from the lamp posts.

It was always hardest for the first generation to come over, while their children were always ready to 'be' American.  And over 100 years ago teenagers were EXACTLY as they are now.  Rebellious to their parents!

Although today's political climate has me thinking most of the terrible way we treat people today as then, the book is full of fantastic stories of how life was then.  Letters to and from 'back home' described their lives, their issues, their accomplishments and defeats.  Many immigrants came to make money and save every cent to bring their other relatives over to America.  Many years of heartache being apart and then the joyous reunions. 
I thoroughly enjoyed this epic 400 year history of immigrants in NYC.

Now I'm half way through "1984".

Day 76, 77, 78, and 79

I have been sewing for hours every day on the mystery quilt, so I can't show a picture.

I listen to audio books and I finished one and started the next one.

I'm on the tenth cd, so I know I've been sewing at least 10 hours since Saturday morning.

It's City of Dreams, the 400 year history of the immigrants of New York City, and I love it.

It's 21 cd's of 24.5 hours.

Day 75

Day 74

There's more to add but it better not look Packer-y.

Day 70, 71, 72 and 73

 These are blocks up on the design wall.  I started sewing them together.

 Cave Women!

Cuttin' strips for sumtin!

Day 68 and 69

Day 68 I colored in the red and yellow cafe and today, Day 69, I glued the background to the container.

Day 67

Day 66

Tonight I spent my creative time at the amazing Sew With Me Quilt Shop in Woodbury.

A large amount of fabric, batiks and otherwise; and many displays of Wonderfil thread.

Day 65

Testing out some new fabric pens that came in the mail today.

Day 64

Day 63

Day 62

All trimmed tonight and ready to sew tomorrow.

Day 61

Day 60

Deciding the order I want these birds to fly.

Day 59

No picture because my phone is out of space!

But I sewed the first seam of the blocks I posted yesterday.

Day 58

Something new.

Day 54, 55, 56 and 57

Day 54, 55 and 56

Cutting and sewing on Thursday and Friday were only about 20 minutes because of this cold, but Saturday I got some sewing done.

Day 57

More sewing today so I completed sewing this step, but I miscalculated on the cutting (I'll blame the cold), and I have about 20 yards of strips left over.

Day 53

Still have the cold.  It's been a long boring day, but after dinner I felt a little better and got a few rectangles cut.  That's enough for tonight.

I hope tomorrow is better.