What's Doin' In The Studio

OK, Off Course is labeled sleeved and shipped, YAY!! I'm pretty sure I responded to them all, but I just wanted to thank you all for your wonderful comments and overwhelming support! This online quilting community never ceases to amaze me!

Shattered Star is still here. . . I'm finding it kind of hard to get to the posty and mail it off. . . I kind of dig this one! Maybe I'll make it there today. . . my niece has been waiting for her 'Judy Quilt' for over a year. . . and not so patiently. Hints have been made. . . or maybe I should say bombs have been dropped as the hints weren't so subtle! LOL 

On to what's doin'! First, while I was at the whole cloth class with Cindy, I called my mom and asked her to gather up any linens she had (and might not mind if I ruined them. . . ) and send them to me :) She sent me three. I was initially extremely excited about this one:

The blue fabric really made this linen pop. . . so much so that I thought it might be a little too bright... What??? Is there such a thing as too bright??? :)

And then it hung on my design wall for awhile, I even ordered some wide backing for it (shown in the picture above). . .put it up with the linen and it continued to hang. . . and hang. . . I was planning the quilting - every square inch and was so excited about all that stitching. . .  and then I started thinking. . . What am I going to do with this after it is finished??? It is HUGE (about 100" x 80"). Mom made it very clear "It is yours, I don't want it back!" LOL I don't have anywhere to put it. My sister wasn't jumping up and down saying do it and send it to me! So I took it off the wall. For now. :) 

And then I took a long look at another of the linens. It's smaller. WAY more practical in terms of size and actually having space to display it. I asked my mom about it. Turns out, she received it as a shower gift before she and my dad got married!!! OMG! No pressure there right?? GULP! Here it is in all it's 60 something year old beauty :)

This is after 12 hours of soaking in RetroClean (awesome stuff BTW) and then baking in the sun. Did your grandma or mom or someone tell you that the sun will remove stains? Yup, it works. The yellowing is GONE and I had to look REALLY hard to find any stains remaining. Once it is quilted, I won't even be able to find them!!

This table cloth is made of linen and it has the BEST texture!! Aren't those roses beautiful?? Wouldn't they be even more gorgeous with a lot little metallic thread added in?? ;)

Just had to share one more picture :) love that little white border of swirly flowers!

I will be sharing the progress on this one as I go. I have a lot of the quilting planned out already. . . I'll share some of the process I went through to make the decisions as to how it is going to be quilted. I haven't started the actual quilting yet. . . It is exactly 45 inches wide. . . can you believe that? I had the perfect fabric for backing. . . it is 44" wide. Story of my life!! I am trying to decide if I am going to cut a bit of that white border off (GASP! I know, I don't know that I am going to be able to do that!!) or if I am going to start hunting for wider fabric. . . I'm liking the hunt for wider fabric option :) I have a LOT of marking to do before I am ready to baste this one so I have a little time. Hopefully you won't get sick of seeing it. I don't think this is going to be my typical get 'er done in two weeks project :)

I am also working on a test quilt. Can't say much about it but I will show you the fabric. . . cuz we all like to look at fabric pictures right??? :D

These strips and blocks have been sewn up into a flimsy already!! It is on my design wall and I am contemplating quilting strategies. . .

The reveal of this one won't happen until April. I will show you the back when it's done - cuz it will likely look like a front. . . and I might not even tell you it is the back of a quilt!! haha

OK, one more project to share. . . and yes, for those of you counting and who have been around here for awhile, I have more than one or two things going at the moment. It's OK though, I'm actually making great progress on all of them and my time between them seems to be flowing well. So I'm not breaking out into a rash. . . yet ;) My husband brought the whole cloth quilt that I made during/after Cindy's class to work. As a result, I have been asked to make a piece that will be inset into a jean jacket for a younger girl. The design was picked for me, I picked the fabric and will be choosing thread colors. . . it is small. It will finish about 8.5" x 11". The first thing I did before taking this on was to say this (about 20 times) "I am not a seamstress, I am a quilter. I don't sew clothes. On the couple of occasions I have tried to mend clothes, it mostly doesn't turn out well. SO, I will do this BUT this consists ONLY of quilting this piece of silk. Nothing more." So here it is, marked but no quilting finished yet.

Here it is on my light table. Isn't this a cool picture?? :)

All marked, ready for quilting.Now to decide on thread colors. . .

I will be working on this today. It's basted (that took about 5 minutes LOL) and ready to go. I don't think this one will take too terribly long. . . but then I say that about every project I start! 

So there you have it. What I am working on this week while you lucky dogs that are going to QuiltCon are drooling over fantastic quilts and shopping 'til you drop! And most importantly, meeting up with all of your bloggy friends!! Safe travels to all of you making your way there over the next several days! 

Linking up with Connie for Linky Tuesday and Lorna for Let's Bee Social :)

Until next time, keep on quilting!