FNSI Progress

Friday Night Sew In was actually possible at my house this week, so I took the opportunity to participate. I'm caught up on the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt along and the fabrics for UFO#5 are cut, ready to be assembled as a leaders and enders project.  Fabrics had been selected for the McCall's Mystery quilt, but they needed to be pressed and cut in order to start working on the first clue. 

All the squares for Clue #1 were cut.

Then I was ready to start piecing.

I finished the first 10 of  40 hourglass blocks called for in the first clue.  Not a bad start considering I didn't get to the sewing machine until almost 8 PM.

Check out Crafty Vegas Mom to see how everyone else did this weekend. 

An Opportunity to Play-the Friday Night Sew In

Thanks for all the get well wishes.  I'm feeling much better, so it's back to work for me today.  I've been so fuzzy brained this week with whatever it was that was making me feel miserable, that I was completely out of touch with what the rest of the Life in Pieces crew had scheduled this week.  But last night it became clear that Friday night I'm on my own for most of the evening.  Drama Teen has a church youth group thing and My Guy will be out of town.  So I'll be home, with no distractions for several hours.  So I'll be playing along with Crafty Vegas Mom during the Friday Night Sew In. 





I'm caught up on the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along, have fabric cut ready to piece UFO #5 as a leaders and enders project.  What I haven't made progress on this month is the McCall's Mystery Quilt. 

The fabric for that project has been just setting on the self.  So I'll get it pressed, cut and hopefully get to the sewing stage before the evening is out.  If you can play along, the sign up this month is over at Crafty Vegas Mom's blog. 

FNSI - Follow Up

Friday Night Sew In was a success.  I came home from work, fed myself (Kiddo was going to eat with the gang before playing a pick up game of volleyball, poor My Guy had to feed for himself when he got home).  Once Kiddo was out the door, I headed to the sewing room and made some progress on a couple of projects.  I finished the upper and lower borders for Flurry and pieced the 2.5 inch squares for one of the side borders. 

I made some progress on getting the second side border put together.

The next to last block in the purple and yellow scrap quilt also came together as it was worked into the other sewing as a leaders and enders project.

I made a start on the last block, but didn't get a picture of that.  Not bad for an evening of sewing.  Check out the links over at Handmade by Heidi to see how FNSI went for others this weekend. 

August Friday Night Sew In

I've been given permission by my family to come home and play in my sewing room tonight.  It always seems like we have something going on the third Friday of the month so I rarely get to to participate in the Friday Night Sew In.   

So what's on tap for tonight?  I'd like to finish the borders on the Flurry quilt.  I only have two more blocks to finish on my purple and yellow leaders and enders project.  I'm hoping I can finish those up during the border sewing.  I also need to cut the strips and make the binding for the Buck-a-Block BOM.  I doubt I get that far tonight.  But there's no penalty for optimism, only a limit on how late I can work and not start making mistakes. 

Check back tomorrow for a status update.  Hopefully mucho progress will be made. 

Friday Night Sew In Results - May

This month's Friday Night Sew In was more about preparation to sew more than actual sewing, though I did get in a little of that as well.  Overall, it was a good night as I managed to stay up and working till midnight. 

What got done?  Worked out the layout for the Buck-A-Block quilt which would work with the yardage I had on hand.

I had to switch to a lighter blue.  It looks much better with the other blocks in real life then it does in the EQ image.  Once that was decided, it was time to develop the construction strategy and draft up the cutting instructions. 

I worked out what I needed for the courthouse steps filler blocks. While I was working on that, the black fabric took a spin through the washer rinse cycle.  All the other setting fabrics have been washed, so I figured the black needed to be washed too. 

I pulled out some scraps from a recent finish, cut them up and constructed a mock up block to test my cutting and construction instructions.

The mock up block came out at 13", which is what it was supposed to measure.  If I'm doing my own thing on making blocks, I always make a mock up block, it's kept me out of trouble more than once.  I'd hate to cut all my fabric, then discover the calculations were all wrong. 

Today, I've got the blue cut for the blocks and am ironing the black fabric so I can cut those strips.  But since Kiddo has a dance, I need to go paint toe nails and deal with whatever else needs to be done before we run over to school to help with the decorations. 

If you did FNSI, hope it was productive.  If you couldn't make it this time, maybe you can make it next month. 

Are you Ready for Friday Night?

This month I get to participate in the Friday Night Sew-In!  It always seems something else is going on and I have to pass.  Not this week!  I have permission from My Guy and Kiddo to come home on Friday and disappear into my sewing room for a few hours.

What am I going to work on?  The Buck-a-Block quilt that was supposed to have been finished back in March.  It's one of my PhD challenge quilts.  I had a setting all worked out, then realized I didn't have enough blue fabric to do it that way.  This was the original plan:

So now I'm working on tweaking the design.  I have lots of the black, but only two and half yards of the darker blue.  So it's either rework the setting or shop my stash for a different blue.  Hopefully I'll get that all worked out tonight so I can start cutting and sewing Friday night. 

If you want to sew along with 100+ others on Friday night, hop over to Handmade by Heidi and sign up. 

Friday Night Sew In - January

Last night I was finally able to participate in a FNSI.  I've wanted to a number of times, but it seems we've had other stuff going on.  I was able to get in a solid 3 hours of sewing time last night.  Which may not sound like much, but for me, on a Friday, that's a huge amount of time. 

I made some progress on the HST border for the Seeing Star BOM. 

One more week left in January and I realized that other than my leaders and enders project, I haven't touched any of the projects that I listed for Myra's PhD challenge.  So I drug out the box with the Buck-a-Block fabric in it and worked on it some as well.  I managed to get the HST's done for this block and started sewing the rows together.  This is block 7, so I have 5 more to do after this one.  I've got a lot to do if this is going to be done by June!

I should finish the pieced border for Seeing Stars today, then concentrate on getting the Buck-a-Block project done.   Hopefully I'll be able to do more FNSIs this year.  This one motivated to get sewing, when usually on Friday, I just veg after working all week.  So I highly recommend participating if you can swing it. 

Friday Night Sew In - A Much Needed Mini Quilting Retreat

Heidi and Bobby are hosting another Friday Night Sew-In this Friday the 21st.  Typically I've had family obligations that have conflicted with past Sew-Ins, but not this week.  My guy is out of town on business and won't get in until late Friday night.  Kiddo doesn't have anything on her schedule that will keep me away from the house.   So I'm going to pick up a take out pizza for dinner on the way home from work, make myself a pot of coffee and sew for a long while on Friday evening.  Maybe I can finish up the borders for the Seeing Star BOM.  Plus, I need to finish block 6 of the Layer Cake Quilt Along.  

If you need an excuse to lock yourself away in your sewing room for an evening, hop over to Handmade by Heidi to sign up.