I groaned when Sharon posted this month’s Take It Further Challenge topic.  How could it be time for another challenge?  How could I get so far behind?  How long until retreat when I have a whole weekend to catch up?

The September challenge topic is lists.  Lists I can talk about.  I keep all kinds of lists.  I have a list of UFOs, a list of books I want to read, a list of things that need fixed around the house, a grocery list, a list of non-food items we need at the store, a list of quilting/painting/dyeing techniques to try, and the lists go on.  Keeping lists clears my mind by dumping ideas on paper.  By the number of lists I keep I must spend way too much time thinking about way too many things.

Rather than start another project that will gather dust on the bed while I finish projects in process, I am choosing a project from one of my lists.  I have an ongoing goal of reducing my UFOs, and I will keep that endeavor separate from this challenge.  After looking at my list of UFOs, I chose this project.

I started this three years ago in a class on creating freeform faces.  I like the design but I wanted to do more with it.  The doing more part had me stumped.  Since the point of this challenge is to Take It Further, I am choosing a technique from my list of things to try and using it to finish this piece.  Two lists, one challenge.     

We had a three-day weekend in the U. S. for the Labor Day holiday, giving me an extra day to play in the sewing room.  So what did I do?

I prepared another Dresden plate block for appliqué.

 

I dyed two runs of fabric, blue/black and blue/chino.  I used every bit of bleached and unbleached muslin in the drawer to do this run.  To dye again this year I’ll have to buy more fabric.

 

I made some progress on the June TIF challenge piece.  Yes, I’m way behind, but I will catch up.

I also chose the next UFO out of the bin to finish.  More about that in a later post.

With a busy schedule this week I’ll have little time in the sewing room.

I finished the fall round robin yesterday, which I renamed Ohio Autumn.  I can’t believe it took me six months to get it done.  I looked back and that’s when I started posting about this quilt.  I did make other things during that time and I delayed starting the quilting, like always.  Some day I’ll get past that.  Now it’s time to look deep in the UFO bins and pull out the next quilt to finish.

I used 1 3/4 yards on this quilt, plus half a yard on my son’s gym bag earlier this week.  Now if I can just stay away from the Labor Day fabric sales…

Fabric in this week:  0 yard

Fabric in YTD:  14.5 yards

Fabric out this week:  2.25 yard

Fabric out YTD:  24.75 yards

In the 1980s and 90s my dad made wooden items and sold them at craft shows.  As a retired cabinetmaker, woodworking provided a natural extension of his career into a hobby.  At the time, the country decorating trend was hot here in the U. S.  He made things like shelves and tables with heart cut outs, and wooden flowers and geese that sat on windowsills.

 

Sometimes people would over buy at craft shows  and they couldn’t get everything in their cars.  For something large, like a table, dad would give them his business card so they could call and arrange to pick it up.  He didn’t want to babysit these sales so he didn’t take the buyer’s information.

One time while visiting, mom told us about a woman that bought a doll cradle the year before and just came and picked it up.  She had fallen ill and stayed in the hospital and nursing home for some time.  When she recovered she remembered the cradle and gave them a call.  Then mom said someone had bought a quilt rack about the same time and never picked it up.  I had just started quilting, but I told her I would take it if the woman never came back for it.

One year turned into two, and dad told me to go ahead and take the quilt rack.  My son was a toddler and I thought it looked too much like playground equipment.  I didn’t want him climbing on it and breaking it, so I left the rack at mom and dads a few more years.  Every time I went to visit he’d ask me if I was still going to take that quilt rack.  He didn’t live to see me bring it home.

Finally my son got to the age where he stopped climbing on things.  I brought the quilt rack home and put my few quilts and some blankets on it.  As I made more quilts and bought some antique ones, the blankets went back in the closet.  Now the rack sits in my living room between my quilting chair and my computer.

I hope nothing bad happened to the woman that bought that quilt rack, but I’m so grateful she never picked it up.  Dad only made a few of them and the last one sold before I started quilting.  I guess this one was meant for me.

I’m still hand tacking the binding on the round robin.  I’m determined to get this project finished so I can add the totals to my stash report.

I’ve read several books this summer but decided to discontinue posting reviews unless they are quilt related.  I prefer to keep the content more on topic.

I’m also aware I haven’t painted anything for a while.  Ideas for more painting projects are in the works.

My son did some fabric painting a couple weeks ago at a birthday party.  All the kids painted t-shirts using the spray fabric paint.  I haven’t washed his yet because I’m a little nervous about putting it in the washer with anything else.  Items that need washed separately always sit in the laundry basket a long time.

I bought this spray fabric paint years ago just to see how it worked.  I know I tried it, but I can’t remember what I used it on, nor can I find it.  Maybe this should be my next paint experiment.

The first thing my son asked for Sunday morning was home made pancakes for breakfast.  The second thing was if I could make him a gym bag.  For Monday.  Sure, I could make a gym bag for Monday.  I could even use stash.

We started looking at different bag styles online.  He picked one in less than 30 seconds.  Then we went to my stash.  He settled for the third fabric I showed him.  Yes!  That fabric gathered dust for 15 years.  Next I had to figure how much cording I needed for the drawstring.  After that I headed to the store.

I used my serger to finish the edges.  I hadn’t used it for five years, so I spent 40 minutes cleaning and threading it and five minutes sewing.  I even used the fancy stitches on my sewing machine to embroider his name on the inside casing.  I finished the bag after dinner and he took it to school this morning.

In less than ten minutes on Sunday, my son chose a project and picked material.  He didn’t overthink it or agonize over the “perfect“ fabric.  In turn I sat down and sewed it and didn’t worry about perfection either.  We both got what we wanted.  He got a gym bag and I used up some stash.

I stopped at the quilt shop today to pick up the golden threads paper.  I had four inches left when I finished quilting the fall round robin.  That’s as close as it gets!

While there I bought almost three yards of fabric to use in the QOV/August TIF challenge.  I know I’ll have some of the fossil fern left over.  I never have enough light colored fabrics, so when I have to buy I buy extra.  I don’t feel guilty about this purchase because I know I’ll use most of it.  Since I haven’t bought much fabric this year, I enjoyed shopping that much more.

I realized today that tracking fabric usage helps me stay conscious of what I’m buying and forces me to consider using what I have first.  It’s a little like eating M&Ms from the bag.  You don’t pay attention to how many you eat while you’re watching TV and the next thing you know the bag is empty.  When you put them in a bowl, you know exactly how many you ate.

I’m still turning binding, so my out number didn’t change yet.

Fabric in this week:  2 7/8 yard

Fabric in YTD:  14.5 yards

Fabric out this week:  0 yard

Fabric out YTD:  22.5 yards

I finished appliquéing the Dresden plate block today, in just under three weeks!!  That beats my time on the last block by over eight months.  I use this quilt as a filler project, so I can laugh all I want at how long it takes.

I’m still ahead of the last quilter that worked on it.