To-Do Tuesday #12 (May 9 - 15)

I posted last week's To-Do Tuesday list on Thursday, and I knew I was heading into a busy weekend of volunteering, so I only gave myself one sewing goal this past week.

• Sew an ironing board cover for local theatre. Finally done! 
  

When I went to check the size of their ironing board, it turned out to be the same size as mine. It's wider than a standard board, and impossible to find a replacement cover for it anymore, it seems. 

They no longer had an ironing pad, so I bought thick towelling and double-layered it. I stitched through the layers every six inches or so, and zig-zagged around the outside edge. I couldn't find any fun or cute canvas at the fabric store. I could have bought navy blue or red, but I was afraid the colours might run when they used a steam iron. So I settled on boring gray and cream. I didn't expect there would be any problem with colour running, but when I washed the grey and cream together, a few spots showed up on the cream, so I had to make their cover using the gray. 😒 

Since they use this wider ironing board for pressing tablecloths, I know it will get used a lot. I want the cover to last them for a long time, so instead of making a single layer, I made the cover double-sided/reversible. When one side wears out, they can just turn it over and have a new ironing board cover again! I found this striped cream/tan fabric I bought last year to make some pillow covers, so I used that for the second side. They won't have to use the gray until this side wears out. 

My To-Do List #12 (May 9 - 15) 

• Make myself a new ironing board cover. I made the original cover way back in 2012 (blogged here)! She was so pretty then. Sigh. Well used and well loved.

• Gather up the material, outdoor thread, and piping for the outdoor cushions to be ready to start next week
• Make and sew hanging sleeves on two quilts for our local fair office
• Finish sewing the Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt top together

Linking up to: 

Quilt Schmilt To-Do Tuesday

April 350 Blocks Report

I didn’t get a lot of blocks sewn in April even though I attended a retreat at the beginning of April (I sewed a bunch of blocks on March 31st).

I made some good progress on the Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt, but the block consists of having two sets of bricks/stepping stones sewn together, so even though the top is up on the design wall, ready to sew, they don’t count as blocks until they’re sewn into pairs. They will be counted in May’s tally 😊.

I signed up for a Zoom workshop, Geometricks, taught by Brenda Gael Smith of Serendipity Patchwork & Quilts from Australia. I really enjoyed the workshop and had fun exploring improv geometric shapes during the practice exercises. I made 22 improv blocks during the workshop. They’re actually quite fast to make and I can’t wait to continue playing/working on these (when I finish my cushions, stay focused!).

This cute block was for my guild’s Block Lotto. Darn, not a winner. 

I made one more large block but I can’t show that right now. So my total count for April is 24 blocks. The April goal was 28 blocks so I came pretty close. My year-to-date total is 358 blocks. Yay!

May’s goal is 31 blocks, and I’m off to a good start. Have a wonderful day!

Linking up to:

Prairie Moon Quilts - The 350 Blocks Project

May's One Monthly Goal and MIA To-Do Tuesday on a Thursday

To describe the last two weeks, I can only say, I bit off more than I could chew. This is a catchup post. 

I signed up to volunteer at two different organizations over a year ago, and finally was contacted and started the training for both. Well, I'm a gung ho person when it comes to starting something new, and in the last two weeks, I had 8 shifts. Even though some shifts are only two hours long, there's still 'getting ready' time beforehand, so it takes more time than I realized. I've also had 'guild stuff' to do, so no wonder I haven't felt like I've had time (I have had the time, I just haven't felt like it. 😉) or done much in the way of sewing.

My April One Monthly Goal was to finish the outdoor furniture cushions. Well, these did not even get dug out from under the pile. So I am carrying this forward for May's One Monthly Goal. I need to make sure I scheduled this To-Do into my calendar and commit the time. 

I know it's Thursday, but I started writing this on Tuesday, so bear with me. Ha! 

My last To-Do Tuesday post was # 10 for me (April 11 - 17th), I only made progress on one thing. 😣

• Sew two embroideries into pillows for a lady who contacted our guild for help. These are done and delivered!

I'll admit, I took way longer than I should have to get around to doing these. The lady was growing a bit concerned that her embroideries were missing in action. However, once I got down to tackling it, they weren't difficult. It was a bit terrifying to make that first cut into someone's embroidery canvas to resize it for the pillow. I zigzagged the edges to ensure it would not unravel. When I opened up the package of white fabric she had bought at Michael's for the embroidered pillow, the fabric turned out to be quite loosely woven, and fairly see-through, so I made the pillow using a double layer. I made a simple envelope pillow case, as I wanted to provide the option of removing it to wash if needed. 

The wool pansy embroidery was more of a challenge, as it was very distorted and needed to be coaxed back to square. I had never done this before, so with some advice from a few guild members, and a google/YouTube search, I managed to get it as close to square as best I could. 

When I unpinned it, it still wanted to return to its original stretched shape, but with a little coaxing, and careful pinning, I got it done. Whew! 

When I delivered the pillows, the owner was pleased with the results, and sent me home with a small donation to our guild's community quilts program, and a bag of freshly baked cookies, which were delicious!

• Sew ironing board cover for local theatre. Fabric is washed and ready to go. Not done.
• Make and sew hanging sleeves on two quilts for our local fair office. Not done.
• Keep sewing the pink/grey blocks (I am up to 60, I need a total of 80 blocks) Not done.

So...now that it is Thursday, and I have other commitments today through Sunday, I am only going to put one sewing related item on my To-Do Tuesday #11 on a Thursday: 

• Sew ironing board cover for local theatre. Fabric is washed and ready to go.
  

And off I go!

Linking up to: 

Quilt Schmilt To-Do Tuesday

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal