A Little Sunday Slow Sewing

My Cherry Basket quilt wasn't really quite finished--I almost forgot the label! We seem to have endless snow outside--perfect for staying in the sewing room and getting some hand work done.
BTW, these little Dip & Dab glue tubes from Roxanne's are pretty handy. I bought a ton of them (as well as the large refill bottle) from Quilt in a Day when they were on sale. Quilt in a Day has a daily special and I've scored some sweet deals! You have to sign up for an email alert on their home page so you don't miss the daily deal. Their shipping is very reasonable too! 
Okay, enough of that! 

It won't take long to get that label stitched down, but I'm not in danger of running out of hand work material. My 13th Mrs. Billing border is slowly coming along. I've stitched out 48 pairs for each of the four sides and now need to put them together in rows. The fun never ends (sarcasm!).
If only I could hand piece like Yoko Saito. If you have seen THIS VIDEO, you know what I mean--she is incredible! 

At least my corners are done! 

Linking with Slow Sunday Stitching HERE

Mission Accomplished

It took a lot of  "nose to the grindstone" appliqueing, but I managed to stay focused (and not start any new projects)--resulting in a finished Cherry Basket quilt!  

Cherry Baskets designed by Bonnie Sullivan of All Through the Night
I made 18 blocks (a deviation from the pattern) so my quilt measures approximately 60" by 77". 

It was fun to make, although putting the blocks together was a little like sewing fabric Jello--every edge was on the bias! Quilting it was lots of fun though. 

The continuous curve quilting in the baskets was very quick. I thought the light triangles at the top of each basket looked a bit like a doilies, so I did some loops  in them to make them seem lacy. I didn't do any quilting in the appliques--just outlined with monopoly.

The new placement of my machine is working out great--much better lighting from the windows and above! 

Red binding just for fun.

One thing that was a little stressful was squaring up the top after quilting. There aren't a lot of  parallel seams to use a check points, but I think I finally got it--whew!  

This shows you how big these baskets are--I was pretty surprised when I first started putting them together! My design wall is almost filled with Cherry Baskets!
Cherry Baskets was my One Monthly Goal for February HERE and also was my chosen project for Bea and Cecile's Basket Sew-A-Long HERE

February Goal

I've decided that my February One Monthly Goal will be my Cherry Baskets quilt. I'm not sure I will be able to get it quilted, but if I get it all together, that would be awesome. 

You can see in the background of this photo that my quilting machine is kind of unavailable for use right now--part of the big re-organization mess I've made for myself. Another goal that I have ASAP is to finally sort through these baskets of scraps. I think it was a goal I had over a year ago too, but it never happened. 

It may be time to start a second 2.5" square container--I can't get the lid to stay on this one!  

One thing I've accomplished already this month it to make a pressing surface for this chest--thank you Mr. Home Depot man (and Mr. Moosebay!).  It's not quite "regulation" big board size, but fits my space nicely and I was able to eliminate my ironing board which I've been wanting to do for ages. It seems much better to have a pressing area with storage and a smarter use of my small sewing real estate! 

Having the Cherry Baskets to stitch on has been a blessing when the standing in one place pressing and cutting scraps gets to be too much!

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE