{Post 1,137} Start of Spool Quilting

Finally got the backing pieced for my spool quilt.  It's been a long time since I made a quilt this big.  OK--now that I think about it, maybe not that long (look here).

The difference is that this one has a row of pieced blocks in it.  And I might have forgotten to carry a one, making all 3 rows of the backing 10" too narrow, which meant I had to add an 11" piece to each length of fabric.  Maybe.

Here is a picture as I rolled the quilt top onto the frame.  This is the back of the quilt.

Here are two shots of the machine quilting.  I've only done two passes, but I am making the motifs fairly large.  I don't want a densely quilted quilt.  

Have you ever considered how confusing quilting vocabulary can be? 

~What are you making?  A quilt.  

~Can I see it?  It doesn't look like a quilt.  Isn't there usually puffy stuff in it?  This is just the quilt top.  

~Now I'm quilting my quilt.  Usually I piece them and have someone else quilt them.  

Most people who say they quilt really don't quilt at all.  They piece.  But we all know what they mean, right?

Here is the machine quilting on my quilt that I pieced along with 6 friends' contributions :)

In the top picture, the flash lightened it up some.  Most of these in the borders are Thimbleberries, with a few exceptions.

I used Pajama Quilter's wonky feather pattern.  I am doing it all-over, no special inner border treatment.  Sam sent me a great idea for the border, interlocking S feathers.  I'm not sure my skills would make it look good enough, so I'm opting to go with what I know I can do well.  This is a caramel colored thread.

Sew Many Things To Do

I have had questions about the blocks on my spool quilt that seem to disappear. They both happen to be pink. Here is the first one. There is very little contrast between the spool and the background. I think it adds a little more charm to the quilt.

Here is the second one. Again--a very low contrast of fabrics.

And, sew far, so good. I have turned the corner and am just adding length now. When I snapped the pic, the top two corners fell back (no assistants today). That is the top "square" edge of the quilt. I know how many more blocks I have, just need to figure out how many more I need. Who ever said math was not useful on a daily basis? Not a home schooling mom, that's for sure.

Do you see my two pink disappearing blocks in the body of the quilt?

Last, but not least, is the Texas Braid row I added to while putting the spool quilt blocks together. One more spool, one more braid strip, one more spool, etc. Makes both projects go faster than clipping the threads after every new spool block was added to the row. The braid is about 88" long. Needs a few more strips to be complete.

Tomorrow AM is our adult Sunday school snack Sunday. I am making two pans of home made cinnamon rolls and a mini chocolate chip cake to take. I need to run Luke to work, then home to bake, exercise, and shower. That should make the day complete, I think.

Have a good evening.

~Joan

Spool Quilt Block Swappers? Anyone? Hello?

Tap, tap...is this thing on??

In case you haven't heard, I am making a spool quilt. Perfect quilt for a piecer/quilter. If you are interested in swapping a set of 25 blocks with me, please let me know. I plan to have mine finished within the week. (cue soundtrack of hilarious, maniacal laughter).

I have two e-friends that I am swapping with, but I'd love to swap with more. Anything goes in this quilt (well, except very bright or novelty prints!!). It's fun to have the variety as well as having the memories of swapping with friends.

Two more of my quilt tops are listed on eBay. This one is a UFO, but I am including the pattern, which sports an applique border. It's Tiddly Winks by Anka's Treasures.



This next top is finished. It is called Hoosier Stars. I love this pattern, but, alas, some things must go. Makes me sad, like mailing off one of my children. That might seem overly dramatic to you non-quilters, but I know there are people out there that can relate! Right??


I am working up to a serious decluttering of my home. That was not a typo. I worked on the sewing room today, and it's much better already. I am stifled by our stuff. Between having 8 children, home schooling, cooking most stuff from scratch, and piecing quilts, my house is an ongoing mess in progress. The messy build-up is reaching epidemic proportions. Wish me luck.

If I had the guts, I'd take before and after shots. But that might be too depressing! I might do it anyway, just for posterity.

~Joan

Maddie's Baby Quilt - Finished!

Here is Maddie's baby quilt...bound and washed! I love the way it turned out. I have enough batik strips to make a second one. I will start that soon. It will be for a boy, so I got a camo-colored green for the triangles and border.

Here it is lying on the floor. I originally put on the light purple outer border. I thought it was too light. I got some dark purple batik and decided to just use both!

When I quilted the border, I drew a wavy line on all four sides and wanted to quilt a feather on both sides of the line. I was disappointed then elated...it looks like stacked hearts! I'll just pretend like that was my intention all along. This is a good free-motion quilt design for any child's quilt.

I am nearly finished with my Grass is Greener quilt, too. Next up will be pics of my finished spool quilt center.

~Joan

Spool Quilt Center is Finished

Here is my spool quilt center. Now to decide about borders. I have a couple things in mind. This is one of the snazziest quilts I've pieced. I need to take a minute to thank Sam, Marcie, Debbie, Julie, Leeanne, and Christine. I have a couple border ideas. Still wanting to make sure that I want this for a queen-sized bed quilt. I think I'll put it away and let it marinate. Measures 60" x 96" now. Thanks, contributing ladies.

~Joan

Stained Glass Quilt Windows?

You might not be aware of this, but in our family of ten (nine at home right now) we have had a lot of illness these past few weeks. Stomach flu has been the number one yucko.

So, every morning, after I wake up (before even getting out of bed), I mentally try to recall who is ill, who is recovering, and who is not sleeping in their bedroom. My main reason for this is that I cook breakfast nearly every day. Benjamin (my 6th child) was sleeping in the living room last night because his little brother got the stomach flu again yesterday. They are ordinarily room mates.

Evidently someone thought it was too bright in the living room and used my month-by-month quilt to darken it. When I went in there this morning, it looked like a stained glass quilt. Above is what it looked like as the morning sunshine tried to pour in through the sheers that normally adorn this large picture window.

Here is a picture later in the day when the sun was more overhead and not shining directly through that particular window. They also have unzipped two of the three pillows from the back of our leather couch to allow the sleeper a little more room.

I am still working on K's binding, but this was a fun subject for another post.

I got one of my favorite scrap quilt books spiral bound today. Office Max does the sprial binding for a small fee. This makes the book so much better for using during the cutting and piecing process. That way, the book lies flat or can be folded back and does not try to flop back closed. The book is "Simple Strategies for Scrap Quilts". It's one of my favorite scrap quilt books. I was looking through it just last night and saw a spool quilt in there set on point. That's how I am going to set mine. I love inspiration through pictures.

~Joan

Another Must-Have Quilt

Saw one of these on someone else's blog a few days ago and remembered that this is another pattern I would like to have a quilt made from...a spool quilt!! Hers was the perfect size, so I am making mine the same. The blocks finish at 4-1/2" square. I have a stack of 2" strips already cut, so I am cutting a few blocks at a time. Here is what I have so far.

We finished school in record time today, so while I was cooling down from an exercise DVD, I pieced a few more blocks for this quilt. It's coming along nicely.

Two of my girls and one son were sick today. One of those girls was resting in my bedroom. That is where my quilt frame is, so I did not get a chance to machine quilt today. It would have interrupted her rest.

~Joan

Beautiful Batiks

I have had one more quilter ask me to trade a set of 25 blocks for my spool quilt. We both sewed them yesterday, and in about two weeks, we will get to see each other's work. My new b-friend lives in New Zealand. So eager to see Leeanne's work!! Her blog is "quilt me kiwi".

In the meantime, I have been wanting to sew a small quilt with batik fabrics for some time. I was curious how they would sew up. I wanted a variety for a baby quilt and found a jelly roll on eBay for a very low price. Yesterday I went to Mary Jo's and got the background fabric (which is a light tan batik...hardly stands out from my design wall fabric). The setting triangles are going to be a mostly-solid-looking red batik. The little pinwheel in the bottom right corner is made from double sewing the diagonal seam when putting the units together. I think I'll incorporate those into the back of the quilt. Aren't they cute? The little pinwheel measures 3" square. The two-piece units from the larger pattern (called "Kitchen Sink") measure 4-1/2 " square.

Now I'm sending this pic to my friend to see if she's up for this type of fabric or if she wants something more traditional. I make all my friends I Spy quilts when they have babies, but she got one two years ago. Time for something new.

~Joan

Spool Quilt as of This Morning

Has seeing my spool quilt made YOU want to start one? Huh? Do ya--huh, huh, huh? If you do, I'll trade a set of 25 blocks with you! Let me know if you are interested. I am trading a set of 25 with Sam. Can't wait to see what she sends me.

I like mine a lot more now that I'm incorporating some non-Thimbleberries prints and backgrounds in there. These are all sewn together, plus I have about 20 more blocks pieced.

~Joan

Another Envelope of Happiness Arrived

These are blocks from Marcie. She sent me a pic of my blocks with hers and a half set from another blogger. What fun!! See her blog for the beginnings of her amazing spool quilt.

Here is my favorite block from her set. It was sooooo hard to choose. Now I need to practice the self-control needed to not run downstairs and add these to my growing spool quilt.



Have a great day!

~Joan

Leader Ender Spool Blocks

Here is a quick tutorial on how I'm piecing my spool blocks. Bonnie Hunter wrote the book, literally, on leader/enders. I am constantly amazed that some piecers have no idea what these are. I've made most of my quilts in the past year using this method. While I'm purposely making something else, I piece large portions of my units for my next quilt. While I'm finishing that one up, I start my next leader/ender. Lather, rinse, repeat, LOL!

Here is the way I do it. Your mileage may vary.

The most important part is having block pieces near the sewing machine. Every time you finish an assembly line of piecing, you put two more pieces together.

Each of my spool blocks (see one finished in the back of the pic) has a print 2" x 5" rectangle, four 2" squares of the same print, and 2 cream 2" x 5" strips.


I have been doing the first step as a set of two so I make sure I have the same background print. You could do it one at a time. I have lots of small pieces around my machine. No sense confusing myself!

I drew a line on my machine base and sewing table with a Sharpie. I need to reapply it often. It is used like an Angler so I don't have to mark my fabric for the HST seams.


After sewing the diagonal seam, trim and press open. (see the last spool block in the background). My ironing board is to the left of my machine. I use a swiveling office chair as my sewing chair. It gives great support and makes it easy to spin towards the ironing board. Yes--I do that one seam and put it back next to my sewing machine.

When I need another leader/ender, I pick up that same piece and add the other corner. If the squares were bigger, I'd double sew them and have a stack of small HSTs to iron open for a future quilt. But these are very small, so I'm just tossing the trimmings.

Trim and press open. Then the next step is adding the center print fabric.

Repeat that last step with the other side of the spool block, and voila'!! Another spool block finished. Another thing that surprises a lot of quilters is that I use pins as little as possible. Saves a ton of time.

~Joan

{Post 1,135} Border of Spool Quilt FINISHED!!

My b-friends are THE best!!  Thanks to my friend, Sam, who I have actually met in person a couple times (once at my house, once at hers), I have the perfect solution to the "I-want-them-to-look-mitered-but-don't-want-to-take-the-time-to-piece-extra-length" border corner.  Seriously.  

Normally when one miters a border, they make extra length, fold the quilt center at a 45-degree angle (pause for me frantically searching for a degree mark on my keyboard--there ain't one), then mark, sew, and cut the border fabric.  Another scrap generator.  

Sam suggested (and even emailed me a hand-drawn pattern in PDF) that I paper-piece huge HSTs and put them on.  So without further ado, I present:

That is exactly the look I wanted, I just didn't want to generate any more scraps.  Mission accomplished.  I am in the process of piecing a backing now (in which I get to use most of my 20 spools from the first potential border).  Such a win-win-win situation.  Three widths of fabric is about 4" too short for the backing, so I'm inserting the 6" spool blocks to supplement.  I am even including the last 3 spools for which there was not room on the front of the quilt so that I use every. last. one.

~Joan

What on Yonder Design Wall Do I See?

I was just sitting down in the sewing room, waiting for my clothes to dry, when I decided to start sewing a Texas Braid quilt from Bonnie Hunter's new book, "Adventures with Leaders & Enders". Truth be told, I had been cutting "bricks" as she calls them. Two-inch by five-inch rectangles. They were for this project, but I wasn't going to start them for a while. I had spools to sew, by cracky. Once the newly cut spool blocks were pieced, I just put a few braid pieces together. Wow--those clothes sure took a long time to dry! (insert sound track of evil chuckle). My clothes finally dried, but then I had to wait up for my two Chick-fil-A closers to get safely home.

I laid out another spool quilt row. I've decided to make this queen-bed size...MY queen-sized bed. I want to add a border like Elaine's. My Australian blocks did not arrive today. Another day of straining my ears listening for the U. S. Post Office jeep tomorrow.


Here's a close-up of the braid. I have many projects going now. I need to finish another one. Hmmm...which will it be? This pattern used to be free on Bonnie's site, but now it's in her book. Her books are so "her"...light, fun, colorful, and easy to follow!! How's that for a plug, my friend??

Another somewhat-of-a-finish today...I finished piecing my Bull's Eye Quilt. Put borders on and pieced a backing. My sweet Susie said she'd pin baste it for me, so I'll get some pictures soon.

It is now officially tomorrow, so I'm going to bed.

Good night!

~Joan

{Post #798} Seeds of Kindness 3/4 Hand Quilted

I read something really funny on someone else's blog today.  Made me feel all organized and together.  Ha ha ha...

It had to do with hand quilting, in case you're wondering about the relevance...

"This week I had a delightful addition to my morning ritual. After my typical activities (pawing through the basket of clean laundry for my clothes and running to the bus stop with wet hair), I tried a little hand quilting on my way to work."

If I quilt in my spare time this next couple of weeks instead of starting new projects, this might really happen!!

If you have just recently started reading my blog, let me introduce you to my baby, my pride and joy, my hand-cut, hand-pieced, and 3/4 hand-quilted labor of love...

My Seeds of Kindness quilt.  You can read all about its history here.  This picture shows it lying on top of my queen-sized bed.  See the spool of gold thread and the little piece of white ribbon near the bottom in the center? 

There is it...I have quilted on both sides of the core going horizontally as it lies, and from the left side all the way over to the spool.  So you can see I have about half of the quilt (the right half) to quilt one direction.  I also have about 1/8 of the border quilted.  I plan to devote my hand quilting time to this project until it is finished.  Stop laughing!  I mean it.

I use the safety-pinned ribbon to mark my place when I get to the end of a thread.  It used to take me 10 minutes or more to find where I left off quilting.  Now I just hunt for the ribbon.  Much faster!

Elisabeth has started taking piano from Rachel's piano/violin teacher.  The interpretation of that is I don't need to be there since E can drive herself and R there.  That means I have at least 2 more free hours on Mondays.  I think I'll just hand quilt while I wait for my laundry to need processing! 

My machine (Janome) is still at the shop.  Just got off the phone with the repairman.  Sounds like he hasn't even looked at it yet.  Yikes!!

~Joan

Quilted Cotton Seeds

Above is the progress on my spool quilt. I am very discouraged because I am not hearing back from the woman that is sending my last set of 25 blocks. It's been nearly a month since I wrote her. I am at the point where I need to just fill in the last corner. I really want to wait to get the last set so I can mix them together. Assistant: very cute 10-year-old son. I am not sure if I should just go ahead and piece 25 more blocks of my own or what.

I am so glad I blog. I was able to look back and see where all the little HSTs came from for this next top. I remember that I had enough to make this quilt and one top to sell from wherever it was. Here is the quilt and picture of this one unquilted.

I've been working on it the past week or so and am nearly finished hand quilting the center. I'm quilting it with lines about 1" apart that go in the ditch of the pieced rows. My border is looking wavy since the quilting is pulling the center in a little. The yellow threads are my basting.

Here is the whole thing. The HSTs finish at 1" square. I am finished up to the last large block in the top left corner. Now I'm wishing I had continued the quilting right into the border. I guess the reason I didn't was that I am using a dark tan thread, and I did not want it showing up that much in the border.

I am hand quilting one other "piece", but I'll photograph that in the morning light. These were taken in my sewing room after sundown, so the lighting isn't so great.

Good night!

~Joan

Scrappy Bargello Border

Above is a quilt from the Asheville show.  I wasn't crazy about the actual quilt, but the border really caught my eye.  I have been pondering on how to make a border for my spool quilt from many a month ago.  Could this be the answer to my plea??  Anyone have instructions for such a border?  I would like it to be scrappy (of course).  Any assistance is welcome.

~Joan

Swaperoo in a Hurry

I asked another blogger, Julie, if she wanted to swap a set of spool blocks. She is also making a spool quilt of some kind, but a different size block than me. In less than 24 hours we have sewn a set for each other and have them ready to mail. That is nearly as amazing as my dentist!!

Here are the ones I made for her. They are 3-1/2" square unfinished. I left my hand in the pic so you could see how small they are.

The last pic is one of the blocks for my quilt right above Julie's...unfinished size of 5" square...gargantuan by comparison!

My Australian blocks could arrive any day. The letter carrier must wonder why I am waiting for him every day recently!! If his wife quilted, he would understand.

~Joan

{Post 1,717} More Projects Finished

I am making one more patriotic item for my booth. I finished up 3 small quilts yesterday. One is a quilt I want to keep. Just need to find the perfect place for it. Here it is, still on my quilt frame. I quilted it with a light blue thread in Wonky Feathers. It is now bound (with the same red fabric as the border) and has a hanging sleeve. I think I’ll try it over my sideboard. Stay tuned! I think it’s about 24” square.

I rarely buy fabric, unless it’s for a specific item. I got a jelly roll with the fabrics in the center above. I bought a yard of the red for the borders of this and the previous (nearly identical) quilt. Tonight I was sitting at my sewing desk wondering what I’d do with the leftover fabric from the jelly roll. I didn’t have much to match it, even for a scrappy quilt. The blue and red are both shades I don’t have in my stash. So I came up with these 16 spool blocks. I had enough for 14 w/o repeating a fabric, then I actually had to use two reds and two blues to have enough to make it an even 4 x 4, or 16.

The lighting is not good in the picture. It’s night time, and the room I have my design wall in has only a center ceiling light. I’m debating whether to add borders or just leave this as is. The blocks finish at 6” each. I have enough of the red with polka dots (3rd row down, second block in) for borders and binding. At least I think I do. I sure have stretched that yard of red!

In news from around our happy little house here, my husband finished installing our new mailbox and post tonight. Now to move my pride and joy—um, I mean my purple clematis vine and Black-eyed Susans. I hope they make it. I have had all those flowers for 20 years. I moved them from our last house. I need to wait until Wes builds the enclosure for the mailbox flowerbed to move them. We are deciding between fake rock and something wood. Since he is doing all the work, I am leaving it up to him. Until a project becomes his, it’s like pushing string to get it to completion. I’m sure some of you can relate. 

I went to my booth today after allergy shots, per my usual. I had finished two more table runners and wanted to get them in the booth before the weekend. Saturdays are the busiest days there. I got a curtain rod and some hangers from Walmart on the way. I hung the curtain rod from the front of my hutch (it is old and falling apart as opposed to old and in good condition). I didn’t realize that the center of the rod is sagging until I got home and looked at the pictures. I also stripped out a screw putting up the rod holder, so I need to take another screw and a drill in. I am thinking I can put a wooden dowel in the middle of the hollow curtain rod to strengthen it. Will go try it tomorrow.  One of my new runners is on the rod and the other has the gold border on the screens. I moved the patriotic large throw to the ladder and put a queen-sized quilt on a child-sized bench I took in.

I am not selling much, but I keep adding things. I can take an honest answer...do you think the booth looks too crowded? Please leave me a comment or send me an email (joanparker10@gmail.com).

{Post 1,154} Spool Quilt Label

I don't know what possessed me to grab that strip of green go make the spools the right width!  But what is done is done.  Debbie, I have lost track of you and don't have an email or anything.  Please re-contact me!

Quilt is just coming out of the dryer.  More pictures to come.

Spools Going Up, Too!

What quilter could resist a spool quilt? I've been piecing these as fast as I can cut them out. This is my current leader/ender project. The top picture is ones that are all sewn together. You might remember this picture. I decided to take that unit and set it on point.


The second picture is all the ones I have pieced just laid out on the design wall with the others. I want to add rows diagonally, so I'll probably add a row once I have a good assortment of colors. I am making several of the same color at once. Naturally, I want them spaced out over the surface of the quilt, so I will do this the old-fashioned way. Diagonal rows are more tedious as far as sewing the blocks to each other. Can't web the top with these. But patience is a virtue, and one I need to work on for sure.

Off to put my Tulip Chains top together.

~Joan