30/30 Sewing Challenge - Update 2

Happy National Quilting Day everyone, I hope you get to do something quilty today!!!!! It has been a week where lots got done, but at the same time it feels like very little got done.  I did finished the test quilt I was doing, and I'm happy with the results.  As soon as the pattern is released you will be able to see it.  But lets see what I got done.

On Saturday I started sewing my half square triangles for the test quilt.  It used the method where you sew around the squares and then cut them on the diagonal and get 4 half square triangles at one time.  I will say I loved this method, no marking, just sewing!!!!  I just got the sewing done on Saturday.

Then came Sunday or better known as the day Sharla and I broke the bank.  Not really, but we went to the Dallas Quilt Show and we bought several projects each...ok Sharla got 7 and I got 6.  And like us they were all over the board. We really weren't there to long, but since Sharla is still wearing that funky boot, we decided it was best to use the wheelchair, which meant I pushed her all around. And of course I couldn't just buy because I saw something I liked, we ended up going back to different places after we had gone through all the booths.  The quilts we saw were simply wonderful, but most were way out of my league.  Here is a photo of what we bought on the first pass, I think we added five more on the second time around.

When we got home, I was pretty whooped, and really didn't feel like sewing.  I sat in the recliner for a while with my feet up and then decided to try out one of the tools we purchased.  We got two Bloc Loc rulers, one for half square triangles and one for strips.  Let me say up front I LOVE them.  They work great and once I got hang of which way to turn them I got lots of triangles trimmed.

Monday rolled around, and Sharla took the day off, so I thought I would get lots done, but I was still pretty tired from Sunday.  My goal had been to get started on quilting a disappearing nine patch quilt.  But Sharla really wanted her Kissing Booth Turning 20 quilt done.  So while she pieced the back, I worked on putting together those triangles I cut. I also got her quilt back and front loaded on to the long arm.

Tuesday was quilting day.  I have to say I really love using my Handiquilter!!!  Even if the quilt isn't for me, I just get a lot of pleasure out of completing a quilt.  I just used a simple meander, and it went pretty quickly. Well except for when this one would run into the room every time the machine stopped and beg to play.  It is awfully hard to resist these sad eyes.

But once he was played with I got the quilting done.  Here it is still on the frame after the last pass.  I had turned up the tunes and was rocking as I quilted and the time went by very fast.  I think began putting the test quilt blocks together.

Wednesday night I finished the test quilt, but I can't show it here yet.  I also got the binding sewn onto the back of the kissing booth quilt.  I machine sew my binding front and back, because I HATE hand sewing. Plus with the dogs I know things will get washed a lot, so I think they will hold up better.

I really wanted to get the quilt done, so Thursday night I sewed the binding onto the front, so we could get it washed.  I love how a quilt looks after it is washed, plus it smells so good.

Here it is all washed and looking pretty!!!! I think this is my favorite of the quilts Sharla has done, I love the colors (and I should since I'm making one in the same fabrics), but also I think her piecing has improved a lot over the last year. She says there are still mistakes but I didn't notice any.

No when Friday rolled around I was one tired girl.  But I wanted to get something done, even if it was limited.  So I began putting together the pieced border for my kissing booth quilt.  I got all four sides pieced and the two long sides attached.  I would have done more but I needed to iron them and I just wasn't up to cleaning my ironing table off last night.

So that was my week.  It was long but fun.  I am hoping to get another quilt on the long arm this weekend and finished on Monday and get my third test quilt cut.  The next test quilt doesn't release until May, but I want to get it done and maybe even quilted before then.  I hope everyone is getting lots done on their #30/30SC.