My AM was spent sewing. Very relaxing. I was mostly alone for several hours, and what better way to spend them? My daughter, Rachel, pieced the inside of both of these quilts.
I added the borders and quilted and bound the top one. They are both for sale on eBay. I just love I Spy quilts. Playing with them is so fun, and of course, they can be used as "covers". They are great as well hangings, too. So much punch and color for a wall!!
I ordered a table top quilt rack to make some little calendar quilts. I was inspired by Michelle. I tried to resist, but I just had to get the book and stand. (sigh)...I'm blaming it on Michelle's too-cute-to-resist quilts.
Baking bread and home made (vegan) herb-seasoned French fries. Might have time to make a little October quilt. What do you think? I'll give it my best.
~Joan
I recently (I think it was yesterday) sent my friend, Sam, an envelope of I Spy prints. I love pawing thru my I Spy stash. I had just finished the zigzag layout for a surprise quilt and wanted to make an I Spy using that pattern. Here is the result.
I am listing this on eBay in a few. These are fantastic for quiet play at home, at grandma's, in the car. I always used one with the older children while I was nursing the baby. That way they were close enough to keep an eye on and I could bond with them.
How do you play with this quilt? Easy peasy...one person finds something and says "I spy an orange" or "I spy the Cat in the Hat" and the other person finds it.
~Joan
This is a quilt I machine quilted for Debbie S. Her family is in Peru. They are missionaries. I met DS a couple years back. We realized we also shared an interest in quilting. Debbie pieced this lovely quilt top for her daughter but would not be able to quilt it before they left the states. Her MIL is going to be visiting during the end of the year, so I volunteered to quilt it for her.
Debbie has a lot of things occupying her time these days, and this was something I could do to help her. Aren't the colors in this quilt marvelous? She did an amazing job.
~Joan
Here is my not-so-professional tutorial on how I am sewing my hexagons to each other. I have never done a tutorial before, so bear with me. I loaded all the pictures first. Glance at all of them then read and follow along.
I start with knot which was wrapped around six times. This picture shows how I put the hexagons nearly flat next to each other and pick up a few threads.
The last picture above shows from the right side. You can see that you CANNOT see the thread on this hexagon that I just added.
If this is not clear, let me know, and I'll try it again.
~Joan
All three of my kids in braces had orthodontist appointments this AM...that makes me :) because I get to hand sew while I'm in the waiting room. Those ladies always wonder why I'm so pleasant when I'm there ;)
I tried a new technique for sewing the hexagons together. It is a tad slower than just putting them face-to-face and whip stitching them, but the threads do not show on the outside (see the last picture above--greens are sewn the new way, blossom parts the old). I saw on the 'net recently where a woman irons her templates after she pulls them out. I'll give that a whirl when I get near the ironing board again. Instead of putting the hexagons with right sides together, I just held it flat in place and took smaller stitches. I might try to get a photo of that later, but it's working!! I have read several bloggers' explanations of how they sew their hexies together, and I have never come across one that does it "my" way. They must have more success with their stitches not showing.
I ran out of hexagons that were pre-basted. You can see in the top picture that I need to add a couple green hexies before I have a finished horizontal "row". I will add my already sewn together red and cream flowers, then try adding a row at a time. With my new method, I think that will be much faster and economical with time and sanity. Could use more of both.
The possibility of a bed-sized Grandmother's Flower Garden is still out there, but it might take forever. Seeing that Bonnie Hunter admitted to working on her hexagon project for 12 years does make forever seem a little shorter.
~Joan
Here is my coaster, again. I started crocheting this one as I uncrocheted the first one, and added in a strip of black and two of light blue. I got the knack of knowing where to add increase stitches from doing the first one. These would make lovely Christmas presents. The pattern in the magazine is for an oval-shaped trivet, but round is splendid as well.
This one measures about 5-1/2" across.
New recipe for supper that does NOT appear to be a winner, but not to fear--there is bread baking in the oven, so all will be well.
~Joan
Above is a large coaster. I thought about making it larger and using it for a trivet on the table. It reminds me of old braided rugs. I decided I don't like the cream, so I am going to "uncrochet" it and add other colors. This is the product of 1/2" wide strips of cloth. I developed a new way of attaching the strips to each other besides sewing them as the pattern suggests. Very cute.
~Joan
