For Sale and Finished At Last

The above quilt top was NOT pieced by me. I saw it on eBay a few years ago and bought it. The workmanship is excellent. But alas, it has no real place in my life. I am thinking about selling it (on eBay). My user name is whistlersmother10. If you are interested, look on ebay.com. Oh, it measures 84" x 96". With another 3" border, it would be big enough for my queen-sized bed...would hit right below the edge of the dust ruffle.

Here is Kathryn's quilt. I finished hand-sewing the binding down this AM. Now it is washed, dried, and ready to mail. Hope my sister likes the work I did on it. Finished is good. That's the quilter's motto.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Surprise someone with a nice little something or other!!

~Joan

Wash Me, and I Shall Be...

Whiter Than Snow. Even if you haven't personally HAD snow in the past month or so, you undoubtedly think of WHITE when you think of snow. God's Word promises in Psalm 51:7 that after God washes us from our sin, we shall be whiter than snow. Another refreshing promise from His Word.

This is a bullentin board Susanna designed and made for the youth room in our church. What you can't see is that she glued large sugar crystals in strategic places on the board to simulate the shimmer that you see when the sun is shining off the snow.

She did an amazing job relaying an awesome truth.

Proud mama,

Joan

Steps and Stars...All Blocks Finished

Here are my blocks laid out the way I want them. The only thing I did with the layout was made sure that the light blue logs weren't near each other and that no two same-color star blocks were neighbors. I might make a few more changes, but I'm happy with this. After a 5" border, it will measure around 60" x 80".

In more quilt-related news, I pieced, washed, dried, and ironed a flannel backing for my Grass is Greener quilt. It's a beautiful Thimbleberries light green.

The reason I like blogging is that it is a journal for ME. I can look back at the progress of my projects in living color!! I just realized that I never posted a picture of the completed Grass is Greener quilt. I used the same darker green as the sashing for the inner border, then used my favorite (now out of print) Thimbleberries medium green for the outer border. The blocks for that were so much easier than I would have thought they were.

Before I even get a quilt finished and bound, I start piecing two or three more. Is it possible I need therapy??

~Joan, who really doesn't want an answer to that question.

My Frugality Knows No Grief...

... like an empty plastic wrap box. Excuse me just a minute while I pull myself together. I have had this box of plastic wrap since right after I was married 21-1/2 years ago. It was a commercial-sized box purchased at Sam's Club, probably in 1988. My family teases me about my reluctance to spend money. I would think they would be glad, but nooooooooo.

Rachel graciously posed with the empty box, pseudo-sad face fixed in place.

Looks like I might need another box of wrap. The good news is that if we use it at the same rate, it will probably be a lifetime supply!

~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

Binding Ahead...

This is obviously NOT the binding I am putting on, but I am at that stage already. A post w/o a picture just isn't as fun to read. Just finished the machine quilting. Now I'm heading down to the sewing room to trim the batting and backing from the quilt and make the binding. Susanna has agreed to help me hand-sew it to the back, so we'll be finished _____. I was going to put "soon", but that remains to be seen.

My students are dropping like flies, which gives me more sewing time (is it wrong to be happy about that?). Luke started upchucking at midnight, and Isaac started around 3 PM today. Not fun. I've been there and done that. I'd rather be quilting!!

~Joan

Progress on K's Quilt

I am about 2/3 finished quilting my sister's daughter's quilt. After the whole thing is finished, I will post a picture.

See the batting hanging down? That is how much more quilt top I have to finish, less a couple inches. So it looks like about 48" more out of over 100" to start.

~Joan