Wednesday 25 June 2014

WIP: Bento Box Binding

I had a super fun week. I tried my hand at longarm quilting and finished quilting the Bento Box quilt using a pantograph in about 4 hours.
I used a rental longarm through Sparrow Studioz and My Sewing Room here in Calgary. I used a APQS Lucey longarm and loved having the stitch regulator. 
 The rental program is set up to ensure a good experience for new longarmers. The thread is provided is Fil-Tec Glide and comes with prewound magnetic bobbins. Using the same thread for all renters means that tension doesn't need to be adjusted very often and there are few thread breaks because Glide thread is so strong. Less thread breaking makes longarming way more fun. I ran into a couple trouble spot s on my quilt and the supervisor in the studio was able to get me out them. 


Overall I am super happy with the result. There are things I would  do differently with my piecing to make my longarming easier... Such as making sure to press seams with flannel open as the big bulky seams were a little rough to go through. And my backing was pretty skippy for loading nicely on the frame. I knew that when I was sewing, but was out of both fabrics that I used on the back.

Since then I have trimmed the quilt and attached the binding to front. Now I just need sometime to attach the back by hand. 


Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday and Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social.

Thanks for stopping by to have a look. 
GeoMama

Friday 20 June 2014

Get Fit Fridays: #2

This week had way less exercise and way more quilting and geophysics work. Oh well. 
GeoDad and I went to the gym together on Sunday, and the kids got to play in the Kids Club they have on site. Then it was pouring rain all week. 
It's not that I can't bike in the rain... So much as I have to cross a creek 3 times to get home if I bike to work. That creek had major flooding this time last year so I wasn't going to risk having to take a detour  12km into my ride home. I did get out biking today when the rain stopped.

Week stats.
Biked 13km
Gym once

Put on a lot of steps side to side to longarm quilt my first quilt. (I know it doesn't count but it sure was fun).

Have a great weekend
GeoMama

Wednesday 18 June 2014

WIP: Bento Box and Project Seventy-Two

Back when I started the Bento Box quilt I didn't have alot on my plate, I was working part time and finding plenty of time to sew. I thought I would have no problem finding the time to quilt it myself... nothing fancy, probably just straight lines with my walking foot... then I got a call and asked to do some contract geophysics work in June. I had promised the quilt would be done before July and if I was going to be doing geophysics in the evenings it was going to cut into my quilting time big time. I can sew blocks together with kids around during the day, but I can't manage a double quilt with them under foot.

It was right about the time I got the call about the geophysics work that my local quilt store started a longarm rental program. I jumped and signed myself up for the certification class to be able to use it and have booked my day to go in a quilt the Bento Box. So that is my self imposed deadline. Next Thursday I get to try my hand at longarm quilting, which was one of my goals from my 100th post.

Over the last couple nights I have taken the 42 blocks from individual blocks to a full quilt top and worked on the appliqué block that is going to be the focal point of the back.


I want to share more photos, but the friends getting this quilt read my blog, and I want it to be a surprise. So only a few sneak peaks.

I also finished making 18 flannel prefold diapers to go with the covers I delivered on the May long weekend. It was great to have a serger on hand to finish seams quickly. Thanks Grandma!


Lastly, I have had lots of time in the yard watching the kids to hand stitch block 2 for Project Seventy-Two. I love the warm weather, and my itsy-bitsy garden certainly does not take much time to care for.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for Work in Progress Wednesday. 

Thanks for having look around. 
GeoMama

Tuesday 17 June 2014

WIP: Project Seventy-Two Block 2

I had a good week for getting things done. Quilt top and back are both together and I am ready to longarm on Thursday (so excited!!!)

I am finished piecing Block 2 for Project Seventy-Two which is all English paper pieced half-hexagons with 1" sides
Block 2

Block 1 
Not much else going on sewing wise... I have some contract work to do in the evenings after kids are in bed which is normally when I sew.

Linking up with Sarah for HeLP for Hexie-aholics and Lee at Freshly Pieced
Thanks for stopping by to have a look.
GeoMama

Update note: I seem have made myself 3 different labels for the same project... I should pick one and stick with it.

Friday 13 June 2014

Get Fit Fridays: #1

Since the weather started improving and it actually started to feel like spring/summer here in Calgary I have been itching to get on my bike and ride. GeoDad and I are a 1 car household in a very car dependant city which makes life a little more difficult some days (and kept us at home most of the winter). But now that I am working days and kids are child care we are finding lots more time to get out and be active.

I have been walking the kids to their dayhome and then catching the bus, and transfering to the c-train, then walking up to the store where I work. My morning commute is over an hour including drop-off time. Getting home is generally takes an hour with transit, unless I just miss the bus connection, then it is 1:15. Lame right.

Driving is not better if I do have the car for the day. Traffic has mostly eased up by the time I need to go, but at the end of my shift it can take 40 minutes for me to drive the 11km to get home. Lame again.

Over the last few weeks I have been cutting out the bus portion of the commute by riding by bike down to the train station. It is all downhill. 5km. 12 minutes. Easy. Then after work I got to do the sweat inducing ride back home. 5km. All uphill. 23-29 minutes depending on weather. The uphill direction is also into the dominant wind direction. Lame. But it is way nicer than being on the bus.

So last Saturday, a crazy little voice inside my head thought I should find out how long it takes to bike home. I started the day by doing the easy ride down the hill to train. Riding the train with my bike to work and then at the end of the day setting out for a bike ride home. It was a great ride, other than I had no idea how steep the hill coming out of the park would be. It was brutal - 4% grade brutal. I walked my bike up the hill then biked the last 3 km to get home. So it is a 15km ride home, one big uphill, but generally not a lot of topography. And I get to go through a gorgeous provincial park.


I got home in one piece and was amazed at how much nicer it was to get home without the busy transit experience.  No waiting for the train then bus. Not squeezing on to a hot train with grumpy/sweaty/smelly/tired/etc transit users.

Since last Saturday I have biked home twice more. It has been great. Other than I probably wasn't ready to do it back to back days.

So although 2 weeks ago I thought I would not be blogging about exercise/fitness/etc anytime soon. I want to share this and encourage others to get active between sessions on the computer/sewingmachine/tv etc..

So quick stats for the week.
Biked 65km total.
3 rides - 15 km each.
And I went to the gym once.

Oh, and GeoDad and I are getting married in 274 days, so this is probably a good time to start thinking about how I want to look in my wedding dress (which is already picked). I am getting back on the fitness and exercise bandwagon and I am going to lose my baby weight before the wedding.

I would love to say that I am off to exercise more, but tonight it is raining and I have a quilt back to getting sewing.

Have a great weekend.
GeoMama