Work in Progress #25

Oh my gosh. I can't believe I haven't posted in a week. That so isn't like me. However, I have been so busy. Family has been up and I have really started back to work with professional development. Shh. Don't tell anyone, but I am training right now. I am learning about using clicker with the smart board. I already kinda know how as I used them last year and taught myself, but this time I am actually taking the class :).

Completed Projects: 

This weekend my husband asked me to make a laptop bag for my mother-in-law, so I went searching the internet for tutorials and pinning on and then started creating my own because I wanted a place for the cord and none of the laptop sleeves seemed to have them. I will create another post with more info about this later. If you haven't started Pinterest you really should, but I warn you it is addicting.

This was my first try.

But I wasn't perfectly happy. So I designed one with the pocket on the outside. I like this one much better. 

Now I just need to go back and fix the first one to have a pocket on the outside. 

Nearly Completed Projects:

Blue and Orange Commissioned Quilt - Been free motion quilting. Boy if you don't practice often you really do lose your timing on it. I am only about 1/3 of the way done.

Posh Quilt - Quilted, just need to make and attach binding. Last week I went to my LQS and rented the long arm there. To see more pictures check out my Friday Fun post. 

New Projects:

Nada! 

Ongoing Projects:

July bee projects. I guess I need to get those done too since there is only 3 days left of July. I guess I will be working on this tomorrow night as tonight I have my mother in laws b-day party. 

4 x 5 modern bee - fabric picked out, block design done. 

Embroidery 101 Quilt Along -  All 9 blocks are done.  Two blocks even have the embroidery done and I am falling behind on the others. 

Kaleidoscopic quilt along - My kites are sewn but I didn't grab a picture of that this morning before I left for my training. 

Completed tops awaiting quilting:

Loves Road- forgot the thread so I didn't get to do it on the long arm. 

I didn't do anything with these:

Sacramento Modern Quilt Guild's Kona Challenge - I have decided to add one more row, just haven't got to it yet. 

Central Park Kit - Nada, haven't even looked at the box.

Prairie Claw Quilt blocks - Oops been forgetting out this one. Found it again when I was cleaning up. 

UFOs -

Scrappy Bear

Halloween Quilt

Christmas Hexagon table runner and pillows.

This week's stats:

New projects: 2

Completed projects : 2

Currently in progress - 14 

Linking up to:

Work in Progress #24

Welcome all. Hope you enjoy looking at my list. I will warn you. It is a long one! But the good news is there are lots of pretty pictures. 

Completed Projects: 

First tutorial on using fusible batting :) If you are interested in my experiences with it and some tips, then go check it out. 

Garage Cleaning - My part is done. The hubby just needs to finish his part. Wow, I sure own a lot of children's books. I used to teach the primary grades, but now I am teaching forth and they don't need chicka chicka boom boom. 

Sewing Room Cleaning - So much nicer now!

Nearly Completed Projects:

Blue and Orange Commissioned Quilt - It is basted and I am about to start quilting right after this. Well after lunch. Must remember to eat. 

Posh Quilt - Quilted, just need to make and attach binding. Last week I went to my LQS and rented the long arm there. To see more pictures check out my Friday Fun post. 

New Projects:

Nada! 

Ongoing Projects:

July bee projects. I guess I need to get those done too since there is only 10 days left of July. 

4 x 5 modern bee - fabric picked out, block design done. 

Embroidery 101 Quilt Along -  All 9 blocks are done. Again with the wrinkle bed, just pretend you don't see it. Two blocks even have the embroidery done. The next pattern has been posted for a week and I haven't even thought about it until now. 

Kaleidoscopic quilt along - Still slacking on this one. 

Completed tops awaiting quilting:

Loves Road- forgot the thread so I didn't get to do it on the long arm. 

I didn't do anything with these:

Sacramento Modern Quilt Guild's Kona Challenge - I have decided to add one more row, just haven't got to it yet. 

Central Park Kit - Nada, haven't even looked at the box.

Prairie Claw Quilt blocks - Oops been forgetting out this one. Found it again when I was cleaning up. 

UFOs -

Scrappy Bear

Halloween Quilt

Christmas Hexagon table runner and pillows.

This week's stats:

New projects: 1

Completed projects :  3

Currently in progress - 14 

Linking up to:

Using fusible batting for a quilt sandwich tutorial

I know putting a quilt together so it  is ready to be quilted can be quite a pain. There are so many methods to choose from. I have to say, I have never used the same method twice. This method with fusible batting, I will using again and I thought I would take a moment to share it with you. 

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By the way this is in no way a sponsored  post. It is just my experience with Heirloom® 80/20 Fusible Cotton Blend and some notes to maybe make it easier for others who decide use this product too. 


Step one: Lay out your backing. Make sure you smooth out the backing, tight but not taut. Also make sure it stays straight. I do this by finding the center and centering it in the middle of the table.

For this method, I used two 6x3 foot table that I bought on sale earlier this year. Don't pay full price, wait for the sale, I got mine for less than half than that website states. Then I used clamps. I got the big ones at Lowe's and the little ones at harbor freight. Both  kinds were less than a dollar a piece.  I like clamps because I can move them around as needed. Tape always seems to move on me. Also, if my quilt was larger, I could just leave the sides hanging off and clamp so the center was tight. Then move the quilt and clamp again.

*I did fix that little bubble right after the picture. I also didn't have enough big clips so I added some painters tape in places that needed some extra help. Had I made the backing a little larger or had some more large clamps that would not have been necessarily.

Step two: Lay out your fusible batting. Match up at the top corner and along one side. Open clamps and re-clip in place. Smooth out batting. Then trim to fit. Re-clamp on other-side, top and bottom. Make sure to smooth as you go. The batting is tacky. So it will stick together. Just work with it and smooth it out. The tackiness does not stick to you.

Step Three:  Lay out your top. Smooth it down. Since the batting is tacky/sticky, I didn't need to worry about the top moving once I placed it. If I wanted to move it, then I just pulled it up and re-positioned it. Work with you top to make it nice and smooth.

Step Four: Iron with steam. Make sure your iron is all the way up and you just filled the reservoir. I didn't and the press wasn't very good at first. To make it stick together all you do is press for just a quick bit and move on to the next little bit. Press not iron, if you iron it makes bubbles and stretches the fabric. If you do get bubble or stretches they are easily fixed. As you can lift up your top, smooth out and press again. Remember pressing is put the iron down, wait a couple seconds, lift and place it down again right next to wear you just pressed. 

Here are the directions from the Hobb's  website:

"To fuse all three layers of your quilt at once, set your iron on a wool or cotton setting with steam. Simply press your quilt from the center to the outer edges.  Be sure you keep your iron moving, pressing approximately 2-3 seconds in each area. This is only a temporary fuse.  If you make a mistake or have a crease just simply lift the fabric and reapply the iron to fuse again." 

Step Five: Flip over and press the backing on too. 

Now the Hobb's website said you can fuse all three layers at once. It sorta worked. I even let it sit came back and added more water to my iron and tried again on the front. The batting stuck to front great, but the backing was only ok, and I didn't feel it would hold up to being squished in my machine as I free motion quilted it. So I just flipped and pressed again on the back.


Step Six: Let it rest or It is ready for quilting.

Now you could get right to work after you are finished pressing it and it has cooled (which is about 2 minutes), but I think it important to set the quilt to the side and admire the fact that you just made a quilt sandwich that you can quilt at anytime you really want to.

Overall thoughts:

1. The batting was easy to use. It did stick to itself a bit, but nothing that wasn't manageable. 
2. I am glad I didn't have to pin anything. 
3. It did kinda have a chemical smell to it once you started warming it up, but nothing like spray adhesive. Just a weird smell. 
4. I would not suggest doing this one the floor, especially hardwood flooring, as the steam would damage it. Nor on a wood table, same problem. 
5. I shook the quilt sandwich a whole bunch to make sure it would stick. The corners came up a bit, so I just pressed them again and all was good. 
6. This method was easy and I will use it again. Not to say I won't ever pin again. I am not sure about the loft after washing. I will let you know more after I have quilted it and have given it a good was. 

Weekend Wrap-up

Another weekend down, which means another week closer to summer being over and another week closer to a classroom full of new kids.

I am exited and nervous at the same time. Just as much as I wish summer could last all year long. Nah, I wouldn't do well staying at home. I know there are lots of you out there that do a great job at staying at home, just not me. I waste a lot of time staying at home. Mostly on this...

Not this weekend though. This weekend I worked on cleaning my sewing room and my mess that my teaching stuff made.

Before I continue, I just want to post a quick side note. This is the real me, the me who struggles to be organized, the me who isn't perfect, the me who wishes my house looked like a magazine and knows it doesn't, the honest to goodness true me. OK back to your regular scheduled posting.

Remember this picture from Friday?

Well after tackling this mess.

Which by the way, I think I may have a problem. Seeing as this pile came off the top of the table and out of the bookcase.That is no way to treat lovely fabric. Sorry I digress. 

After a few hours (an hours or so on Friday and a couple hours today) I had accomplished this: 

It might now look like much, but the bookcase, my fabrics, and my little sewing desk are all organized.

My other weekend job was to tackle this mess of teaching crap err, I mean stuff. 

I no longer teach Kinder or First grade. So I don't need any of my primary teaching materials in my classroom. It is packed enough with 34 students, I don't need anything in there that I don't use. 

Luck for me soome wonderful teachers, who had my students before they came to me, have taught my 4th graders to read and write. So most of this, I just won't use this year. However, some day I may want to go back to the little ones so I am keeping most of it around.

Fantastic, right? Ok no I didn't magically make those big piles turn into just that meager amount. It is most of it but, not all of it. 

This pile is coming back to school with me. 

And this pile. Well, I am conflicted. I can offer it up to other teachers I know, or I can donate it somewhere. 

Hmm big choices to be made. 

How did you weekend go? Notice I didn't get any sewing done. How about all you? I hope it was as, if not more, productive than mine. 

Friday fun

First off I have a nearly finished project. Yesterday I went to my LQS and rented the long arm there.

Can I just say wow that took forever. The computer kept messing up. I having to call the the owner to help me fix things, but I learned a lot. And it looks very nice.

I hope next time it won't take quite as long. Next time I am also free motioning instead of choosing a computer design. Yes even with the frustration as soon as I save up some more money I will be going back to finish another quilt.

4 hours later and my quilt top was done.

Now on today's fun. Or maybe not so much fun.

Today will be all about organizing.

First there is the garage.

That is all my kindergarten and 1st grade teaching mess. My goal is to have that organized before the hubby gets home.

Then there is my sewing room that has exploded. I have way to many projects going on right now. That my organizational skills are lacking.

It has even entered other rooms of the house.

I will be working on this mess this evening.

Then maybe I can work on finishing my blue and orange quilt.

 I have everything I just need to make the quilt and sandwich and get to quilting.

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