{Post 1,518} Where Do I Begin?

Where do I begin?  How about where I left off?

I have a blog to journal events in my life.  I know you all are not interested in the day-to-day around here for the most part.  I like to track the progress of my quilts here and throw in a few other DIY projects.

Here is some quilty content.  

What is sad is that it took me about 10 minutes to remember for whom I made this quilt.  It is for two little girls in my Sunday school class.  My husband and I teach 2-5 year olds.  This is for two sweet sisters in our class.

Next up is the progress on my Maverick Stars.  Still determining the recipient for this one.  I have enough blocks to make a good-sized top now.  The blocks finish at 9-1/2" square.

I was going to help a woman make a table runner in preparation for her making a bed-sized quilt.  She did not like piecing.  Truly, the whole process was a struggle.  I made these two table runners/mats in preparation for helping her make a bed-sized quilt.  I pinned the instructions, but here is the link https://www.pinterest.com/pin/251357222930972127/.  From one set of strips, one makes the following two quilt tops.  The instructions were a bit nebulous.  The most frustrating part is that no end sizes are given.  I am going to quilt these and have them in my gift closet soon.  I love the colors.

17" x 25" and the other is 17" square.

That's all the quilty stuff for now.

My 1st and 3rd daughters recently bought houses.  Oh, the projects I've assisted them with over the past month.  Pictures to come.

{Post 1,353} Three Runners for Susie

I am going to a post-wedding shower on Saturday for my newly-married daughter, Susie.  She requested two runners (the first and last), and I added the one in the middle. 

This first one is a new technique for me...curved seams.  I made the center panel one WOF and covered it with selvages.  Then I followed the instructions on Red Pepper Quilts blog for curved seams.  I made the curves gentle to see if it would work for me.  It did.  I even did the quilting a little outside of my comfort zone.  It measures 12" x 42".

I think I used 6" wide for the selvage and white layers and 9" for the black, then trimmed it to be 12" x 42".  That is for Ruth.

This one measures 18" x 23".  I think the colors look like camouflage.  Fitting for her, I think.

This one measures 16" square, and is loosely based on a baby quilt I pinned.  

{Post #878} New Foyer Table Runner

Today we took down all our Christmas decorations and got them in the attic in about an hour.  We had already taken down the tree a few days ago.  I put a table runner on my foyer table and put up my apple quilt.  The runner did not look good.  It also had apples on it and together the quilt and the runner...they just looked...looked...stupid!!


I was downstairs doing laundry, so I whipped up a runner I had in mind.  I had seen this style a long time ago, and it just seemed like it would match the table and quilt better.

Here is my sad little tree.  This is a new little sign I just got a few days ago.  I like it.  The tree might have to go.

This was a quilt-as-you-go, so it worked up very quickly.  I sewed the binding down while Isaac and I finished watching a movie we started last night.  This seems to work and look better.


~Joan  

{Post #795} Blue I Spy and Tuscany Runner

I am about to do something drastic...live without my sewing machine for about a week.  I just found that there is a sewing machine repair/maintenance place about 5 minutes from my house (as opposed to over an hour away, where I used to take it).  So I am going to take it in after I finish this post.

I've been a busy sewing bee.  I decided to finish an old project (UFO) and start a new one.  There was an I Spy quilt top languishing in my sewing room for over a year.  I am giving it as a surprise, but I don't think the family even knows I have a blog.  I learned a new free-motion quilting pattern and it turned out fantastic.  It's hard to get a good pic of the quilting, but here it is washed and dried.

It looks odd because I took the picture at an angle to hopefully capture more of the texture after it was washed and dried.  Here are a couple close-up pics before it was quilted.  Don't you love the monkeys??  They are having a GOOD time!

Some of the squares are one fabric, and a handful of them are 4 different fabrics pieced together.

Here is a picture of the whole thing, before quilting.  It measures about 40" square.

Then, in preparation for being w/o my machine for a while, I cleaned off all the little scraps on my cutting table.  Once it was cleaned off and all the strips and squares were in their proper places, I picked one of my all-time favorite fabrics that I just have a bit of, that I never used because it was one of my favorite fabrics and I didn't have much of it, and I plunged in and cut up that fabric to make a table runner!  Those of you with a hoarded stash know what I mean.  You can't bear to cut it because there isn't much, but the print is big, oh, the drama. 

The piecing is finished, and here is a close-up and a pic of the whole thing, which measures about 18" x 48" (I think)...

Hope to have this on my fall table this year, so I will quilt it soon.  Now off to deliver my machine to be spruced up and then back home to shampoo my bedroom carpet (nothing but fun around here, my friends).  After that I am going to inventory and declutter my pantry and big freezer.  I know, you're all jealous.  Go sew something!

~Joan

New Fall Table Runner...

...it's still in the quilt top stage, but I pieced a new fall table runner for us. I used up all scraps except for the black for the chain running diagonally through the top. Quick and easy. I originally had 6 blocks, but it ended up being too long for our table for twelve. A little frog stitching, and I was all set! It's very large (don't have an exact measurement). My daughter is standing on a chair in the pic, and it's barely off the floor.

I also pieced a few blocks for a quilt I'm going to be piecing with a friend. It's the 21st Century Bull's Eye from Quilts from Aunt Amy by Country Threads. I wanted to make a few blocks to show my friend what it will look like on a small scale. The seam allowances are on the top, so they curl up slightly after washing and add an interesting dimension to the quilt. Another stashbuster!

~Joan

Valentine Table Runner

For those of you who are new readers, I must explain that our kitchen table is not status quo. We have 10 in our family, so all runners must be economy size! I realized as I was putting away our Christmas decorations that we did not have a Valentine's holiday table runner.

I like quilted table runners...at least I get to see them several times a day! With that in mind, I pulled out a pattern I bought last year. Since I am handicapped because I only use Thimbleberries fabrics (at least 99% T'b), I was limited in my fabric selection (I have about 100 bolts here). The runner is 58" long finished, so I am only showing half so you can see the details. I changed the pattern from the original, so there was a little unsewing involved.

This is unquilted in the picture. It was machine quilted by me after the photo shoot with variegated cream thread cross hatched in the center and stipple quilted everywhere else with invisible thread. My 2nd daughter offered to hand-sew down the binding...I had to accept.

There is a panel of one fabric (the cream background of the heart blocks) in the center. I think it measures about 16" x 58"). Perfect for our table!

~Joan