Weekend Works

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I posted this quilt top.  It was to be the background for my Ogallala retreat quilt.  I put up some of my elements on the wall and decided that I really didn't like it.  The background, which I was trying to make subtle, was just overwhelming the top completely.  I left it all on my wall and walked away.  I didn't know what else I was going to do.  Tonight, I put up the rest of the orange curly cues and some yellow dots and I think it has come together. 

It definitely needs more yellow dots, but I didn't want to put them up there yet.  All of it is just pinned and I am not sure if I can get it down in one piece to iron everything on there.  I used steam-a-seam 2 and I should be able to just press them on there, but I ironed it to my fabric before I cut it out and I think I took all the sticky away.  I really need to read the package directions before I use a product.   Tell me what you think.  All of the symbols have a different meaning and some of them I can only have a set amount.  I am going to move the third "flower" from the top left up a little bit, I think that's the one that fell off and I just slapped it back up right before I took the picture.  I may need to make one more open leaf for the bottom left, for some balance, maybe.   This is definitely a work in progress. 

What else have I been working on this weekend?  I made 5 more bags using Jenni's tutorial .  If you haven't had a chance to check it out, click on the highlighted words and it will take you to her website.  I also made this pin cushion from Bari J.  Click on her name and it will take you to her blog.  Scroll down and look on the right side for the pin cushion tutorial.  I don't  have it completely finished in this picture as you can tell by the pins sticking out the side, because I want to stuff it a little bit fatter.  I don't have any more stuffing here at the house, so I will have to pick some up tomorrow after school.  This is a large pin cushion.  It measures about 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" X 2 1/2".  I will add a button in the middle when I get it all stuffed.  I copied down how to make this pincushion several months ago and finally got around to making one.  I thought it was going to be harder to make than it was.   It went together rather quickly and easily.  I can't wait to try this one again. 

What else have I gotten into this weekend?  Well, since I am still trying to work through the quilt at the first of this blog, I don't want to start anything new, so I found this partially quilted top and finished quilting it.  Well, I thought I was finished, but I think I want to add some more quilting to the middle of the hearts.  I had previously quilted in a shiny purple metallic thread, the rays coming from the hearts.  I just remember the thread breaking over and over again.  I didn't want to machine quilt anything else it was soooo frustrating.  I will show the rest of this quilt when I have it all finished.  If I remember correctly, these hearts were leftovers from an online block exchange that were just laying around and I made this top with them. 

The rest of the weekend accomplishments will have to wait to be shown until I take down the retreat quilt from the design wall.