Kicking off the Finishing Frenzy

As the vegetable garden winds down and we tear most of it up (still getting lots of tomatoes), it seems I have more time to sew instead of processing veggies. Theoretically. Bruce and I spend some time every day cleaning out the basement and our respective playrooms (my studio and his workshop). We fill up our two large city garbage cans every week, although one has already been filled with garden debris this week. That means we will instead focus on gathering donations for the thrift store(s) and making a trip or two there. 

There is a lot of furniture and Stuff that neither of us want (or will have room for) that we are trying to pawn off give to family members. So far, one bicycle and some IKEA chairs have a home, but I think we’ll have to resort to the classified ads to sell a few furniture pieces, my treadle sewing machine, some outdoor furniture and Bruce’s workshop machinery. Oy. We need to move that stuff out sooner rather than later so we can straighten things up enough to have the house look uncluttered for staging/selling. And the weather is getting colder ... not the best timing. 

But let’s focus on why we’re here - the sewing part. Actually, there’s not much to see. But what I do have represents a lot of sewing this week. 

String blocks - 75. I sew these at 6.5” square, remove the papers and pin them in groups of 15 for use in Quilts for Kids kits. 

Has it made the slightest dent in that pile of strings I showed last week? Surely, you jest! I’m hoping that at the end of the YEAR we will see a dent! My dear Nina (my Bernina sewing machine) and I will be working diligently again this week on more strings. 

I also hope to pin baste (and possibly to quilt?) two quilt tops that are hanging on their hangers, patiently waiting for their turn to be finished. 

But my other primary goal this next week (in addition to continuing the string blocks) is to begin sewing the Christmas Stars Quilt together. I finished the last of the 4” (finished size) stars this week:

Here are the 73 stars and the 16  4.5” squares to total the 89 blocks I’ll need of that size. There are eight sections to assemble of the quilt top, and I want to get at least half of them done this week. The target date for me to finish the quilt is sometime in the middle week of October (15th-21st). I want to get it to the longarm quilter as early as possible so I can have it back before Thanksgiving weekend. Then I can bind and gift it to my son and daughter-in-law for them to use this year on their bed during the Christmas season. It will be so good to not have this hanging over my head!!

So, that’s all I have this week.  I hope your week was good and wish you the same for the coming week! Thanks for stopping by! Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s Scrappy Saturday.