A Sewing Day

We're here at McKinney Falls State Park. It was a bit of a cold day yesterday, which worked out all right because Mike needed to drive into Austin to have some work done on the truck. We've driven it about 14,500 miles so far this trip, and it needed an oil change, a new fuel filter, and those kinds of general maintenance things. "Would you mind if I got the oil changed on the truck?" he asked. Heck no! It gave me a chance to set up the sewing machine and do some sewing.

Of course, every morning starts with some hand-stitching.

There's just a little bit left to finish there at the bottom, and then this one will be finished. And how could I go wrong with this little lap-warmer to help me while I stitch?

So, I needed to move her off my lap. I just pick up the whole quilt bundle and set her off to the side. A little later on, she looked like this...so, no offense taken. Nothing showing but feet.

When I was ready to sew, I first needed to trim these little 36-patch blocks. You might recall when these headed off a list of gripes on a post last summer. The blocks for the marvelous minis were supposed to finish up at 4 inches, but there was no way these were going to be that size. Some folks (I read later) had simply moved their needle over a click or two to achieve the proper seam allowance. As for me, mine were all off. I decided to wait for the setting instructions and decide then what to do.

It made sense to simply trim them to size, and so I lined my ruler up with the 2-inch line on the center seam, and then cut the edges off all around. It amounted to a difference of about 1/8 of an inch more or less on all four sides.

Also, I needed to cut the strips for the sashings and borders.

Then, I lined up all the blocks for this quilt in the way they were pictured on the Temecula Quilt Company website.

Oh, hey! Need any help organizing these? I, Smitty, am here to help!

Yeah...I discouraged him from any further intervention, and then sewed the columns of blocks together. This took about 45 minutes.

After that, I sewed the remaining sashings on and voila! That's a finished top right there. It ends up at 31 x 24 inches.

This will be a kitty quilt when it's finished. Sometimes we have to bring in the quilt and pad from the catio when it rains. The last time that happened, we laid the quilt next to our bedroom window. Sadie loved it there, and so it seems like there should be a quilt there permanently. This one will do the job nicely. I'm calling it "Meowvelous Minis."

This was a good challenge. The blocks are 3-1/2 inches finished, and some of the pieces were less than an inch square. It was good practice for both cutting and piecing accuracy, and I'm not even close to mastering it. Still, I like making these little minis, and I have some mini quilt patterns I'd like to try piecing sometime.

You might recall the little quilt I made during the Precision Piecing Quilt-Along from last year. That was my first attempt at mini quilt blocks...they aren't very accurate, but I still like the little quilt that resulted. When the blocks were finished, I sewed them into this little 8-1/2-inch square quilt that now serves as a hot pad in our truck camper.

There may not be a quilt for every purpose, but there is a purpose for every quilt.

When yesterday's quilt top was finished, I stitched together some scraps of batting brought from home. For that, I like this stitch, identified as the "closed overlock" stitch on Pfelicity's screen.

Butting the edges of the batting together, it gives a nice strong and flat seam line.

From there, I cut the back and binding from the same green star fabric used in the quilt top.

By then, Mike was back and I was kind of tired of sewing anyway, so I called it a day. And that was my goal for February's

already accomplished just two days into the month. I'd still like to get it quilted and bound before the month is over, but that will have to wait for a day down the road apiece.

This morning we're meeting up with my cousin. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw my cousin, and I think it was around 1977. Geez. So many years. Of course, we've kept in touch over the years in writing and by phone, but it'll be great to see her again in person and give her a big ol' hug. Also, I'll get to see her son Jeff and his girlfriend. I haven't seen Jeff since he was just a little kid. There's lots of catching up on today's horizon.