GYB Party Winner and DaGMT update

OK first random.org has helped me pick a winner for my Grow Your Blog Giveaway and it was

lucky number 6, aka Gina.  I've sent her an email so I can get her goodies into the mail as soon as possible. I also want to thank everyone who stopped by and commented and started following me. GYB Party was lots of fun and I know I found lots of cool blogs to follow.

Now lets see what I've done this week on my DaGMT project.  I've done 20 minutes everyday this week...OK maybe Friday was a little less, but I did do something and the other days were more.  To start was last Saturday and I counted my time shopping for thread.  Now I can say I love shopping for thread almost as much as shopping for fabric.  There is just something fun about it.  We got ten cones, and the only duplicate is the Parchment which is just a basic cream and good for so many things. I think my favorite is the Dusky Purple, but that Hot Pink is very pretty too.

On Sunday I got my Skipping Squares back and top loaded onto the long arm frame.  I try to load at night so that I can start quilting in the morning without being tired from getting it all loaded.

Monday was a mad quilting day.  I finished quilting, then got the binding made, label made and got it bound. I was so focused on it, that I was late picking Sharla up from work.  I have to admit I love the backing on this one.  I used the Signature Parchment thread, and it just blends beautifully.

Tuesday I cut out and ironed fabric for a quilt that I am testing for a designer.  I have to admit when I started cutting my nerves really got the best of me.  I was really afraid that I wouldn't do the pattern justice.  For those of you who know me personally this probably surprises you because I don't come off as a fearful person, but after cutting I just couldn't make myself start sewing.

Now those colors my look familiar, but they are different fabrics than the Skipping Squares.  Well those fabrics are different, but I decided to used the fabric from the backing as the center square on the test quilt, because I love it so much. So the colors are very similar.

On Wednesday I made myself start sewing.  The test quilt is a very over sized block quilt and the first step is do to some very large flying geese blocks.  I did the 4 required, and two came out good and two not so good.  But I was tired and didn't want to try and fix anything when I wasn't at my best.

Thursday night I came in and fixed (to the best of my ability) the two bad blocks and then assembled them with the center and side pieces.  I'm only showing you a partial of the block, since this is a test quilt for a designer, I don't want to reveal it until she says we can. Working with big pieces does make the quilt go together very fast.  

Then last night I trimmed up the backing for my JoAnn's red/brown quilt. I pieced the top last year from a couple of kits Sharla bought me in 2008.  But I had no backing, so off to the store I went.  I found this fabric that has some of the colors in it, and I just love.  I'm going to be quilting it with Signature's Persian Red.  I'm hoping to get the back pieced tonight and maybe even loaded onto the frame.

Overall I'm very happy with the progress I've made this week. I am hoping to get lots accomplished next week as well.  I am finding that doing as little as 20 minutes a day does really help progress things forward. And hopefully I will have lots more to show you next week as well.