Posted on by agilejack

The Cutting Begins

We have one day left in our fall radio on-air membership drive. I’m exhausted. I wanted to do a little sewing tonight but decided to do some cutting instead.

When I’m live on the air during fundraising I’m doing it through Zoom and I need to be hardwired into my internet, rather than using wifi. So that means I have to be in my sewing room since that’s where my router is. So my sewing room is a bit of a makeshift radio studio right now. Rather than turning it back into a sewing studio and then having to turn it back into a radio studio for my 7 am on air shift tomorrow morning, I decided to use the cutting table, which means I don’t have to mess with the radio studio set up.

So I decided to start cutting the 2.5 inch strips that I’ll need for my next quilt.

First, I took a few minutes earlier today during my lunch time to pare down the orange, pink and purple fabrics I had pulled from my stash. I took it from 58 fabrics down to 39 fabrics. That’s still plenty of fabrics!

The stack of fabrics in the background is what I culled from the original group.

After dinner I started pressing fabrics. I like to be efficient so I pressed all the “black” fabrics I’ll use in this quilt. And then started cutting with this group.

I managed to cut strips from all the “black” fabrics and the purple fabrics.

I cut two strips from each fabric. I’m going to need 60 strips for the size quilt I want to make so 11 of these fabrics will appear twice in the quilt top.

Oh, and the pattern? I’m going to make the same pattern as the blue lap quilt that I took to my quilter the other day. I haven’t satisfied my appetite for this quilt yet! And I’m really excited about this fabric and color combo!

Remember those portraits of my mom’s grand mothers that I took off my living room wall a few weeks ago?

Well, I had a brainstorm on what to do with them last night.

In May I was going to go with my brothers and SILs to visit my aunt in Seattle when my trip was cancelled due to my Covid case. Well, we’re going to take a weekend in November and go visit her. One of her sons, my cousin, has a winery named after the town in northern Italy where my grandparents were from. So I texted him to see if he wanted the portraits, and he’s incredibly excited to have them for his winery!

He even knows the names of these grannies. That’s Livia on the left, my mom’s namesake. And that’s Felicita on the right. I’m so thrilled that someone in the family wants them!

I’ll be on air fundraising again early in the morning, then I hurry and high tail it to Rico’s weekly sheep herding lesson. Then I’ll high tail it home to work behind the scenes on the final shift. I’m hoping I have enough oomph left at the end of the day to sew together the blocks I finished a few days ago.

Oh, and I MUST fix the backing for my KFC scrappy trip quilt and get it off to my long armer so she can get that quilt onto the frame and quilted.

I’m looking forward to my work schedule easing off a little!

Here’s a photo of my boys from earlier this week to let everyone know they are well and happy and still with me!

I have not yet given them up for rescue! Hahaha!

31 Replies to “The Cutting Begins”

  2. Good morning from Niagara Falls, Ontario I enjoyed your post, and awed at your energy level. Your doggies are the sweetest, I bet they are high energy and I think really smart guys. I also admire how you put your fabrics together they all work so well. I put my bundle of FQs out arrange them and put them away again. However, following your posts does encourage me to just do it!! Thanks for sharing Doreen

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    1. You just need to break down and cut your fabric! I used to hesitate to cut fabric but now I can’t wait to start cutting! I did a lot of cutting the last two days!

      Anne

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  3. Good morning!
    Please tell me you’re fund raising for your local PBS station? We’re having the same here at SCETV radio, in Columbia, SC and using the No fund raising fund raiser approach. Just frequent blurbs about donation until the deadline/goal is reached….or if it’s not, then we go live on the air pleading until the goal is obtained. Sometimes effective…sometimes not! Love your color combinations….I’m an orange/purple fan from long ago!
    Take care!
    Anita Bowen

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    1. Yeah, I do fundraising for public TV and radio. I have my opinions about those shortened fundraisers. They tend to spur existing members to give money but don’t do a very good job of bringing new members which is one of the main purposes of on air drives. They come in and out of fad every few years.

      Anne

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  5. Lovely to see those grannies of your mother’s. Such a beautiful first name each one has. Both would make fabulous names for quilts. I’m imagining snuggling under a quilt called Felicita!

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    1. they are beautiful names. My nephew named one of his twin daughters Livia. And that was my mom’s name as well. I’ve never known a Felicita or Felicity for that matter.

      Anne

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  7. I’m glad you found a home for the great photos. I have been trying to get the family mementos to younger members of the family hoping that they will enjoy them as much as I did. It’s better than waiting too long and it would be all shipped off to a thrift shop or junkyard.
    My next quilt in that pattern is going to be mostly warm colors too.

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    1. I had a vision in my head that the photos would sit in my closet until I died and then someone would throw them in the trash. I couldn’t bear it! I’m so glad my cousin wants them!

      Can’t wait to see your warm version of the other 16 patch. I wonder how many I’ll make… probably depends a lot on how much I like this next one.

      Anne

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  8. A GIANT LOL to that! You couldn’t get rid of those two of you tried! Look at that tongue! And the face saying ” c’mon mom! What’s next! ” t That’s a picture of total devotion!

    Love those fabrics and colors! Gonna be another beauty!

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  9. Who rescues you? Love the Grandmothers. They will have a place of honor at the winery and have a lot of meaning to the building. Your idea shows you are still perking on all cylinders!

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  10. I just want to say, You inspire me!! And, I thank you for that as it’s much needed in my life right now. I’m in a creative slump – my quilt studio is a mess – I have too many UFOs – and I need to take the time to learn my long arm so I can do something other than a meander (boring!). I bought lots of Kaffe this summer so I”m going out to the studio right now and make a tub just for Kaffe. Maybe that will motivate me to straighten up the place. Thanks again. PS I think the fabrics you’ve chosen are lucious.

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    1. sometimes I feel more creative when I take the time to put my space in order. All that clutter can feel overwhelming.

      I hope you find your inspiration soon. I’ve been through some slumps over the last year. My enthusiasm always returns, just when and how I think it will!

      Anne

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  11. I can’t wait to see your quilt! What are you fundraising for! Love your posts and your precious dogs! How exciting to have a wonderful new home for your grandma’s portraits! Have a blessed weekend! Debra

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  12. I’m curious what is the town in Northern Italy that your family is from. I have been working on my genealogy for years and have recently discovered when my family was from – small villages in Favale di Malvaro which is east of Genoa.

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  13. I’m pulling orange and magenta for a quilt for me. I have not one quilt on my bed that I made for me and kept and this will be the one. I have no pattern in mind and want bigger patches than I normally make so that all those lovely KFC can show off. I don’t want to do framed squares, I’ve done those many times. Suggestions? (ps thanks for the pictures of the boys, you know how I love them.)

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      1. Anne, thanks for the suggestion. Your moss garden works well because there is other colors in there that provide contrast, and my color choices might be too alike as they are in the “warm” range. I haven’t given that a lot of thought, but I have been saving oranges for 10 years (it’s my favorite color so not hard to do!). Magenta looks terrific with orange. So, now I’m going to look through your blog for quilt pics, and then scour through Wanda’s too. You are a gem! Can I ask, what is it that you do job-wise? I’m curious. I’ve been imagining, and thought for a while you might be a doctor, and then considered veterinarian, and recently you hinted at a fundraiser, so I’m thinking PBS, or maybe social work.

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      2. ‘A friend of mine who’s an accomplished quilt once told me, “Color gets all the credit but value does all the work.” So if you’re going with all one color, make sure you vary the value… dark darks, medium darks, light mediums and lights. Also, varying the size of the print helps too.

        I do actually do fundraising for public tv and radio. Been doing it since 1995!

        Anne

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      3. HA! I was close about your work…giving thanks to all those British Mysteries I watch on BritBox. Thanks for the refresher on value because it will be critical on a quilt with a design that isn’t rigid. Have a great weekend, Anne.

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