Hydrangea Chameleon

Here is a hydrangea plant that a dear elderly woman from my church gave me last year. I was so excited when it came back twice as big as the year before. Isn't this a lovely purple? The surprising thing is that last year it had the brightest pink blossoms. What color will it be next year?? Only time will tell.

I searched my computer for a picture of the pink blossoms, but to no avail.

~Joan

Quilt Show Pic #6

I did not get a pic of this whole quilt. It was "just" a log cabin with the gold stars satin stitched by machine in the cream areas. I think of all the quilt patterns out there, log cabin ranks up with my very favorites. This one was so cute. The colors were light as opposed to the heavy ones I usually use, but not juvenile BRIGHT. Lovely. Once again, my desire to get a pic was foiled by the skirt hangers holding up the quilt. This one was in waves, and I was lucky to get this much of it where it was flat. Just sayin'...

~Joan

Honeycomb Stars

I worked on the Honeycomb Stars a little tonight. I added a couple colors for variety, so I HAD to see how it looked (that's how most of my quilts start...I'll just make a block...then two...then...).

This measures about 9" square so far. I am thinking I'll need at least five "rings" as opposed to the three in the original photo. With a table for 10, one needs to be ready to expand!

I just noticed in the picture that the bottom right corner has an unfinished seam. The blue hexagon is not sewn down on the bottom short side. That's because I start on the long seam and continue up one short side, then go back and do the other. Must have gotten interrupted before finishing that one off. Will be corrected soon.

~Joan

Sewn With Sashing

Here is the finished Twin Sister quilt except for the outer border. I have a navy blue and gold plaid that I'm going to use for that. For now I need to go prepare a couple snacks for the rest of my family. We've had VBS at church this week, and they don't eat supper before leaving. I have a couple hearty snacks for them every night when they get home.

This measures about 37" square now.

All four sides of every block is completely bias, so this took some TLC.

~Joan

Sashing It Is!!

Several of my blog readers suggested thin sashing between the blocks. I had alaready considered that, so I moved the blocks around to accommodate the pieces on the design wall.

Now that I've quickly cut the sashing and cornerstones, I think I might have liked it better with the values switched...dark sashing and lighter cornerstones. I have this pulled off the design wall, next to the sewing machine, and ready to web. The finished product will be ready for a photo shoot some time today possibly.

~Joan

Is This Baby Quilt Finished?

I am not digging these blocks. I don't believe I've ever typed that word--digging--before today...at least used in that sense. Not being one to waste, I am making them into a small baby quilt. This will be about 30" square (once the blocks are sewn together). I will add some kind of outer border.

Maybe they should go on point? I don't want to make too many more of them, but will if necessary. I think I'll try an on-point setting tomorrow. The day is done...gone the sun...and all that.

~Joan

We Finally Got Together

Here is Marti with her quilt...I think she likes it! We have been missing each other all the time for the past couple days. Many unplanned events the last couple of days. We live less than a mile apart, too.

She is also holding a picture I took of her with all her family present at Josiah's graduation. She didn't know I had taken it. So glad it made her happy!

~Joan

Family Pride Really Finished Now

I thought Ruth's quilt looked so great with the braid and tassels that I asked her to share her source. It was a store called Tuesday Morning. Odd name, huh? Wouldn't you know we had one close by? I got one similar to hers. Mine is red and gold, but with the Thimbleberries creams being goldish, I thought it would work.

My WH (a step up from DH) used screws to secure the braid into the ends of a large dowel. Voila! I can hardly wait to give it to my friend tomorrow.

The wonders of technology. Her son and I were chatting on Facebook this afternoon. I sent him a link to my post about the quilt. He thinks it's cool. I think he is!

~Joan

Bonnie ~ Twin Sister

Bonnie at Quiltville had a post about a new scrap block she had published in the latest edition of Quiltmaker. When I was in the big city (Gastonia) this past Wednesday night, I stopped in Hobby Lobby to get a copy of the magazine (yes--I'm that big of a Bonnie fan).

Here are the first blocks I made from this pattern...

Then I did the unthinkable and added in some non-Thimbleberries...the third block down, third block in below was some samples I bought for a potential bed quilt that I ended up rejecting. Then I got my plaid and stripe bin out and cut a few pieces from that.

The picture is not as vivid as the blocks are in person, but you get the idea. This might be too much even for me. So busy, busy, busy.

My design wall is behind my computer right now. I kept staring at the blocks, wondering if there was hope for them. I rearranged some of them so that all the lighter of the blades was on top and bottom. This is what they look like now. I think that makes it better. Opinions?

I did something even I have never done for some of these blocks. See the last full row, the block on the farthest right? The cream is from scraps from this quilt. When I trimmed down my rectangle of cream strips for the center of Family Pride, I had a 5" wide piece left over. When I was cutting for the Twin Sister blocks, I saw that chunk and thought, "Why not?" So some of the cream "blades" are actually pieced as well. Waste not, want not.



~Joan