“MAY” Round Up… The Big Eye

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Updated 7-18-12.

When I was little and piled more food on my plate than I could possibly eat, my mom would say I had the “big eye.”

When AmandaJean at Crazy Mom Quilts posted her May Small Projects Sew-a-long, I signed on thinking what a perfect time to work on recent unfinished projects plus a few back burners. http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2012/05/small-projects-sew-along.html

So, I made up my list. Will Do and Want To Do’s.

WILL DO

• Download embroidery designs from my PC to sewing machine
• Embroider one design, maybe two
• Faux Chenille quilt finished
• One handbag with grommets finished 6-9-12
• Machine Felting, start one project finished two projects
• Work on Umbrella quilt finished quilt top -6 blocks 7-18-12
• Make more zippered bags four finished

WANT TO DO

• Finish 4th of July Picnic Blanket/Table Runner/D9P Finished 6-25-12
• Make pincushion inspired by coffee mug Made two 6-18-12
• Work on Game Boards for Family Reunion
• Work on black/white/red Postage Stamp Quilt Panel #2 made, 6-5-12.
• Finish Attic Window Bird Cage pillow

But guess what happened? Yep. You guessed it.

I HAD THE BIG EYE.

I was only able to cross off TWO items. How embarrassing!! But it certainly wasn’t for the lack of trying. (I will tell you more about that in a minute.)

One thing not on my two lists received the most attention. My charity pillowcase project I recently started. Throughout May I sewed and sewed and ended up finishing 41 pillowcases. I timed making one pillowcase and if piecing wasn’t necessary and I could just cut and sew, it took me exactly one hour. Piecing added an extra 30 minutes or longer. So roughly I would say I devoted about 50 hours making pillowcases. That included fabric selection, ironing and preparation time. But seeing them finished, folded and ready to ship brought me so much joy. Many smiles. I was delighted to donate the time and materials.

Here they are.

In between making pillowcases, I managed to make one quilted handbag. The plan was to add grommets (and then I could have crossed it off my list) but I ended up using wooden handles instead. 😦

One thing on the WILL DO list I completed was this little zippered bag. 😀

It goes with the handbag.

And even though my Faux Chenille finished quilt/blanket was for a DOLL, I am crossing it off anyway. I went through the entire process. Learned it, sewed it, finished it. And have plans to make a larger one this month.

So.. those were my two On-The-List finishes.

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OK. Now let me tell you about my PROJECT ATTEMPTS.

I spent HOURS trying to figure out how to download embroidery designs to my Janome MC 10001 sewing machine.

Everyday I would search the net, search Janome’s web site. Nothing I tried worked. The culprit? My operating system. Using my USB cable that came with my sewing machine, I could not automatically find the required drivers. And a manual search didn’t find them either. The program fix I found at Janome didn’t work. Because I have a 64 bit (????) system and the USB connected download only works with 32 bits. So… I am really frustrated right now. After I cool off (don’t want to be mean and cuss at the poor sewing center workers), I plan to take it all in and demand ask for help. Hopefully sometime this month I will be able to embroider one of the digital designs I bought five years ago.

Another item on my list that I can say a bit of progress was made was learning about my Janome Xpression Felting Machine.

I have had it, I think, about 4-5 years. And never used it. I can proudly say, I am now more familiar with it, the tools and the process. More so than ever. I spent HOURS (about as many as on the embroidery issue) reading my manual, searching the net, watching how-to videos. I am certain I will be able to complete a machine felted project in June. How’s that!! One Machine Felted Item Coming Up!!

Though I only managed to finish two items on my list, I still count May as a success because of what I DID finish. (Photos below if not above)

41 charity pillowcases
2 pillowcases for me
1 doll pillowcase
1 quilted handbag
1 zippered clutch
1 faux chenille doll blanket
1 doll ruffled pillow
1 little girl’s purse

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Well, that does it for me. How about you? Did you complete your May projects?

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Linking to:

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2012/06/small-projects-sew-along-finale.html