On A Timely Basis

What's that mean to you-- "on a timely basis"? In the work-a-day world, it might mean getting it done "promptly" or by-the-due-date, etc.  In quilting, I think it might mean "within the next few years".  Quilters are well known for WIPs or UFOs (works in progress or unfinished objects).  My reason for interpreting "on a timely basis" a different way is that I've just now begun working on a quilt kit that I purchased at Quilt Country in Lewisville, TX in 2006.   That's only 5 years ago, pretty timely huh? AND, even though I worked on it the end of July and 1st few days in Aug, I'm just now putting it here. That's just 2 wks later!

I was still in the midst of cat-lover-ville when I came across the quilt kit.  If it happened today, there would need to be doggies in the quilt, not kitties, for me to buy it.  I'm sure I'll always have a kitten or two, a big kitty or two, etc. After all there IS an apparent sign out front that says all strays welcome. But now I seem to be getting doggie-fied.  We have 2 American Eskimoes & a Great Pyranees.  You should see that great pyranees when she sits on my lap!! The picture here is of Sissy when she 1st got here  last March.  She's 7 months old now and big enough to RIDE! 

 I digress.  Back to the quilt kit.  This one has lots of kitties in it and lots of pink and black. See, that's a change too. Why pink?  At least it's mostly HOT pink!   I had no idea what I'd do with pink.  Now I realize there's actually people who LIKE pink.  Yeah, that's right! Borders aren't on this yet because in my itty-bitty-barely-squeeze-in sewing area behind the counter, there isn't enough room to work on borders. Can't measure or cut accurately. Have to wait til sewing time rolls around at home...and...have to remember to carry it home.

We had a baby shower to attend recently. I tried making a diaper cake- here it is before it was done. I thought it was a cool way to "wrap" the purple receiving blankets and some baby outfits inside:

See that wide

stuff around the 2nd layer?  I had some very old waist elastic that needed wasting. (haha) So I sewed

 the ends together and slipped the diapers into the elastic bands to make them curve around, then covered the big elastic with a wired ribbon. It turned out ok and was fun for a 1st-time craft. Of course

I took some quilts to the shower, and I tried some burp rags made from

regular diapers - the not-disposable ones:

On the 1st two, the keys are pretty obvious. The key in the 3rd one is kind of hide-n-seek.  Better luck next time. They turned out ok for never having done it before. 
So. The shower on Saturday, our anniversary (35th!) the next day. My BD the following Friday & when I show up at the hairdresser's, I find out that the quilt I thought I had the weekend to finish really needed to be done RIGHT NOW!  Luckily, I  could call for help at the store so I could go home to make that T-shirt quilt for a young man heading off to college on Saturday morning. I already had the T-shirts cut up and interfaced.  Did I get it done?  You betcha!

I'd heard Payten likes lime green, the more the better. Thus the new fabrics

I used were designed by Me and My Sister manufactured by Moda.

Two of the shirts that Payten brought me were tie-dyes, no text. So I used pieces of those to
fill out blocks .

Labels by Sweetwater. Don' you think the baseball thing in the "diamond" is creative?

UPDATE: I just remembered that I signed that "process" pledge so I thought I'd show you the pattern for the T-shirt quilt. Want to see it?  It's an original.

I also worked on a very nicely pieced, very square & flat, almost perfect quilt this last week.   I don't have permission to post yet. I'll show ya when I get the ok. 

 AND... I made circles!  Circles & circles & circles & circles.   A SWB friend Diane Brown can draw perfect circles without having to trace anything.  I always thought that was a pretty neat trick.  I can't draw anything with a pencil!  I can, however, with my Gammill!   Connie wanted "bubbles" on this batik quilt.

Have you ever drawn circles for hours?  I hadn't either.  It turned out to be VERY soothing! very calming, very fun!  But my sides hurt like heck when I finished. While longarming, making circles involves using the whole body- which I didn't think about until I finished.. Coulple of hours later, "OWWWEEEEE!

Did I mention that I REALLY enjoyed doing all these circles?

 And look in the last pic at the small space right below the snips where there's no sewing yet. I was THAT close to being done when I ran out of bobbin thread! Good thing I had another one already loaded! Thank you, Gammill, for winding while I quilted!